Proceedings 


OF  THK 


Columbus   Conference 


FOR 


Good   City   Government 


FIFTH  ANNUAL  MEETING 


OF  THB 


National   Municipal   League 

HELD  NOVEMBER  i6,  17,  18,  1899 


Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff,  Editor 


Philadelphia 
NATIONAIv  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 

pures'j  c}  Govsrnncnic:!  RsssarcK' 

'  ■"•    .    •  .'  \ 

Los  Angaics  24,  California 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL   LEAGUE 


OFFICERS 

President,  James  C.  Carter,  New  York. 
First  Vice-President,  Charles  Richardson,  Philadelphia. 
Second  Vice-President,  Samuel  B.  Capen,  Boston. 
Third  Vice-President,  Thos.  N.  Strong,  Portland,  Ore. 
Fourth  Vice-President,  H.  Dickson  Bruns,  New  Orleans. 
Fifth  Vice-President,  Edmund  J.  James,  Chicago. 
Secretary,  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff,  Philadelphia. 
Treasurer,  George  Burnham,  Jr.,  Philadelphia. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 

Charles  J.  Bonaparte,   Chairman, 
216  St.  Paul  St.,  Baltimore. 
George  W.  Guthrie,  William  G.  Low, 

Pittsburg.  Brooklyn. 

Joseph  A.  Miller,  Harry  A.  Garfield, 

Providence.  Cleveland. 

Oliver  McClintock,  Dudley  Tibbits, 

Pittsburg.  Troy. 

George  W.  Ochs,  John  A.  Butler, 

Chattanooga.  Milwaukee. 

Hector  McIntosh,  Frank  N.  Hartwell, 

Philadelphia.  Louisville. 

AND    THE    OFFICERS. 

OFFICE  OF  THE  SECRETARY: 
GIRARD  BUILDING,  PHILADELPHIA. 


OANDO   PRINT.   AND    PUB.   CO., 
PHILADELPHIA. 


YRL  n>^'^^"^'^ 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  leading  papers  published  in  this  volume  on 
the  "  Municipal  Program,"  and  the  draft  of  the  proposed 
Constitutional  Amendments,  and  the  Municipal  Cor- 
porations Act  form  the  final  report  of  the  Committee 
appointed  at  the  Louisville  meeting  of  the  National 
Municipal  League  in  May,  1897.  This  Committee  was 
directed  "to  report  on  the  feasibility  of  a  municipal 
program  which  will  embody  the  essential  principles  that 
must  underlie  successful  municipal  government,  and 
which  shall  also  set  forth  a  working  plan  or  system, 
consistent  with  American  industrial  and  political  condi- 
tions, for  putting  such  principles  Into  practical  opera- 
tion ;  and  such  Committee,  if  it  finds  such  Municipal 
Program  feasible,  is  instructed  to  report  the  same,  with 
its  reasons  therefor,  to  the  League  for  consideration." 

This  the  Committee  did,  presenting  its  preliminary 
report  to  the  Indianapolis  meeting  in  November,  1898, 
and  its  final  report,  which  was  formally  and  unanimously 
accepted  (see  page  45)  at  the  Columbus  meeting  in 
November,  1899.  Accompanying  the  first  report  were 
four  principal  papers  prepared  by  members  of  the  Com- 
mittee, which.  In  turn,  were  discussed  in  nine  subsi- 
diary papers.  Accompanying  the  final  report  were  four 
more  principal  papers,  likewise  discussed  in  subsidiary 

(iii) 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 


papers,  all  of  which  are  published  in  this  volume,  together 
with  the  perfected  draft  of  the  Amendments  and  Act. 

The  reports  of  the  Committee,  with  the  papers  and 
the  drafts,  practically  constitute  the  Municipal  Program. 
It  is  presented  to  the  students  of  American  municipal 
government  by  the  National  Municipal  League,  as  a  con- 
tribution to  the  subject,  representing  nearly  three  years 
of  patient  study  by  a  group  of  men  of  diverse  train- 
ing and  views,  selected  without  reference  to  party 
affiliation. 

If  we  may  be  permitted  to  speak  of  the  importance 
of  this  contribution,  its  reception  at  the  hands  of  Ameri- 
can publicists  is  gratifying,  and  indicates  clearly  the 
need  for  such  a  piece  of  work  and  the  deep  interest  in 
the  cause  of  better  municipal  government  in  America. 
With  scarcely  a  notable  exception,  the  press  have  com- 
mended the  Committee's  endeavor,  and  its  recommen- 
dations have  met  with  a  most  cordial  endorsement.  It 
was  not  to  be  expected  that  there  would  be  immediate 
universal  acceptation  of  the  Program  in  its  entirety, 
but  the  spirit  of  the  criticisms  augurs  well  for  the  final 
acceptance  of  its  fundamental  principles. 


CONTKNTS. 


PAGE. 

Proceedings  of  the  Fifth  Annual  Meeting  .         .         .         i 

Appendix  .........       50 

An  Examination  of  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program 

— Dr.  Belos  F.  Wilcox 51*^^ 

Political  Parties  and  City  Government  Under  the 
Proposed  Municipal  Program  —  Prof.  Frank  J. 
Croodnow    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .       63 1 

Public  Opinion  and  City  Government  Under  the  Pro- 
posed Municipal  Program — Horace  E.  Demmg  .       jy^ 

A  General  View  of  the  New  Municipal  Program — 

John  A.  Butler  ........       87 

The  Power  to  Incur  Indebtedness  Under  the  Proposed 

Municipal  Program — Hon.  Bird  S.  Coler  .         .         .       96- 

Public   Accounting   Under   the    Proposed   Municipal 

Program — Dr.  Leo  S.  Rowe       .....      104^ 

The  Financial  Reports  of  Municipalities,  with  Special 
Reference  to  the  Requirement  of  Uniformity — 
Dr.  E.  31.  Harhvell 1 24 

The  Importance  of  Uniformity  for  Purposes  of  Com- 
parison— Dr.  Samuel  E.  Sparling       .         .         .  -136 

Financial  Control  Over  Municipal  Receipts  and  Ex- 
penditures— Albert  F.  Croshi/ 148 

The  Accounting  of  Public  Service  Industries — Prof. 

Charles  W.  TooJce       .         .         .         .         .         .         -155 

Accounts  of  Grantees  of  Municipal  Franchises — Wal- 
ter S.  Allen        ........     162 

(V) 


VI 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

A  Year's  Advance — Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff^ .         .         .169 

The  Work  of  the  Ohio  Municipal  Code  Commission — 

Edward  Kihler 188 

The  Work  of  the  Ohio  Commission — Hon,  E.  J.  Blandin,     199 

The  Status  of  the  Public  Service  Corporation  Ques- 
tion— Harry  A.  Garfield    ......     207 


Constitutional  Amendments 
Municipal  Corporations  Act 
Banquet  Speeches  . 
List  of  Delegates  . 
Index       .... 


216 
224 
250 
273 
275 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF    THE 

KiRTH    Annual    Mektino 

OF    THE 

NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL   LEAGUE 

AND 

SEVENTH 

National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government, 

HELD    AT 

COLUriBUS,  OHIO,  NOVEMBER  15,  16  and  17,  1899. 


The  Fifth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Municipal  League  and  the 
Seventh  National  Conference  for  Good  City  Government  convened  a: 
the  Chittenden  Hotel,  in  Columhus,  Ohio,  and  in  the  absence  of  the  Presi- 
dent, the  first  session  was  called  to  order  and  presided  over  by  First  Vice- 
President  Charles  Richardson. 

The  Chair:  In  the  absence  of  our  distinguished  President,  Mr.  Garter, 
it  becomes  my  duty  to  ask  you  to  come  to  order.  Before  we  proceed  with 
the  business  of  the  conference  of  the  National  Municipal  League,  I  be- 
lieve that  the  Honorable  Samuel  L.  Black,  of  Columbus,  has  some  words 
for  us  which  we  will  lie  glad  to  hear. 

Mr.  Black:  Gentlemen— Let  me  assure  you  that  I  do  not  speak  the  in- 
considerate words  of  complinu'ut,  when,  in  l>t'lialf  of  its  Board  of  Trade, 
1  greet  you  and  t'xlend  10  you  a  most  cordial  welcome  to  the  capital  of 
Ohio.  Nowhere  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  this  great  sister- 
hood of  States  is  there  a  city  more  deeply  concerned  in  the  work  which 
brings  you  among  us,  than  Columbus.  We  realize  its  magnitude;  we 
recognize  its  diiticullies;  Ave  are  impressed  with  its  serious  import  to  the 
nation.    The  stor5'  of  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  municipal  govern- 


COLUMBUS    CONFF.RENCE. 


ment  in  America  will  inclufle  much  of  the  political  history  of  America 
during  the  earlier  years  of  the  tAventieth  century.  It  is  safe  to  predict 
that  unless  these  problems  are  solved  the  close  of  the  twentieth  centui">' 
will  not  look  upon  a  United  States  of  America.  Economic  conditions, 
economic  evils  culminate  in  cities.  The  seed  of  disruption  thrives  best  in 
cities.  Crime  of  all  grades  is  most  rife  where  the  struggle  for  bread  is 
most  savage— in  the  city. 

The  population  of  the  American  city  i8.  indeed,  cosmopolitan,  and  tlie 
framing  of  a  plan  of  government  to  meet  the  ever  changing  conditions  is 
a  taslc  well  worthy  the  best  effort  of  every  citizen.  Indeed,  the  fathers 
who  framed  the  Constitution  essayed  no  more  difficult  task  than  the  one 
which  you  seek  to  solve.  And  the  Board  of  Trade  of  this  city  esteem  it  a 
privilege  to  join  you  in  your  work.  From  this  meeting,  from  your  pro- 
ceedings, and  from  your  presence  we  hope  for  and  predict  much  good, 
not  only  in  the  conception  and  working  out  of  a  uniform  plan  of  govern- 
ment for  the  cities  of  Ohio,  but  also  in  that  equally  important  work  of 
arousing  the  people  to  a  proper  and  intelligent  conception  of  the  duty  of 
civic  patriotism.  We  believe  in  the  best  system  human  wisdom  can  de- 
vise. We  are  for  that  p'.an  of  municipal  government  which  will  best 
promote  a  healthful  growth,  moral,  physical  and  intellectual,  of  all  the 
citizens.  Yet  the  plan  or  system,  however,  perfect,  will  avail  but  little 
unless  in  the  hands  of  intelligent  and  honest  workmen.  Honest  and  in- 
telligent workmen  will  not  be  selected  by  an  indifferent,  dishonest  or 
partisan  public.  The  best  system  of  government  in  the  hands  of  the 
"machine"  or  "boss  will  avail  but  little,  while  the  poorest  system,  backed 
by  an  intelligent,  honestly  non-partisan  public  will  accomplish  much. 
Laws  will  not  make  honest  or  patriotic  men;  but  honest  and  patitiottc 
men  can  make  laws. 

Back  of  any  plaii  or  system  of  municipal  government,  if  it  solve  the 
problem,  must  be  an  intelligent  and  honestly  non-partisan  public.  No 
plan  or  system  can  be  devised  which  will  relieve  the  elector  from  his 
civic  duty.  This  duty  he  owes  to  himself,  his  country  and  his  God.  He 
cannot  measure  up  to  that  duty  unless  he  be  intelligently  non-partisau. 
His  civic  patriotism  must  not  be  that  of  the  fanatic— the  bigot;  their  ideas 
are  most  always  so  lofty  and  ephemeral,  their  methods  so  wanting  in 
common  sense,  that  they  too  often  throw  the  government  into  the  hands 
of  those  who  have  no  ideals  at  all.  He  must  not  wait  until  the  evils  are 
unbeju'able  and  are  enthroned.  Revolution  will  not  excuse  nor  cure  his 
previous  neglect.  It  is  idle  to  the  mass  of  good  citizens  to  tiy  to  set  them- 
selves apart  as  not  responsible  for  the  shortcomings  in  municipal  govern- 
ment. In  the  end  it  is  just  what  the  people  will  allow  it  to  be.  It  is 
doubtful  if  in  any  city  there  is  a  machine  so  invulnerable  or  a  boss  so 
powerful  that  the  uuited  efforts  of  the  decent,  intelligent  people  could  not 
.and  would  not  exterminate  both  in  one  brief  campaign  were  they  to  adopt 
practical  non-partisan  methods.  And  where  either  exist  and  thrive,  it  is 
.safe  to  conclude  that  civic  patriotism  is  at  a  low  ebb.  Eternal  vigilance 
on  the  part  of  the  non-partisan  decent  people,  must  ever  be  the  price  of 


FOR    GOOD    CITV    GOVERNMENT. 


good  municipal  government.  No  matter  what  system  may  be  finally 
adopted  by  the  American  cities,  they  cannot  have  good  municipal  govern- 
ment until  it  is  fully  understood  that  dishonesty  in  a  public  servant  is 
an  unpardonable  sin;  that  cornjption  of  any  kind  whatsoever  in  officials 
will  not  be  condoned  for  any  consideration  of  party  expediency.  History 
records  no  instance  of  a  government  long  withstanding  the  encroach- 
ments of  dishonest  and  corrupt  officials.  When  these  crimes  continue 
in  municipalities,  the  people  must  assume  the  responsibility— at  least  for 
their  continuance.  The  National  Municipal  League  has  accomplished 
much  in  the  past,  not  only  in  rescuing  the  system  from  the  partisan 
slough,  but  likewise  in  arousing  the  public  to  a  proper  appreciation  of  its 
civic  duty. 

I  am  but  echoing  the  sentiment  of  every  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  of  Columbus,  when  I  bid  you  God  speed  in  your  work,  and  assure 
you  that  your  efforts  have  its  heartiest  approval  and  best  wishes. 

The  Chair:  I  am  sure  I  express  the  feelings  of  the  delegates  present 
in  saying  that  we  are  sincerely  grateful  for  the  words  of  welcome  and 
(encouragement  and  appreciation  to  which  we  have  just  listened.  It 
would  be  a  source  of  much  gratification  to  us  If  we  could  hope  that  any 
ideas  or  siiggestions  of  oui's  could  in  some  measure  repay  those  words 
of  kindness  and  welcome.  But  a  very  partial  examination  of  the  Munici- 
pal Code  which  is  about  to  be  i*eported  by  Governor  Bushnell's  Commis- 
sion made  me  fear  that  in  bringing  our  ideas  to  Ohio  we  are  leather  carry- 
ing coals  to  Newcastle.  If  that  Code  can  be  passed  substantially  as 
presented,  without  serious  mutilation,  it  will  place  the  cities  of  Ohio,  and 
therefore  the  State,  far  in  advance  of  anything  which  has  been  accom- 
plished in  any  other  locality  in  the  United  States.  And  I  think  we  shall 
all  hope  that  the  efforts  of  that  Commission  may  be  successful  in  that  re- 
spect. 

I  think  we  may  congratulate  ourselves  that  our  Committee  on  Munici- 
pal Program,  composed  as  it  is  partly  of  Democrats,  partly  of  Repub- 
licans, and  men  of  other  parties,  has  arrived  at  a  unanimous  decision  in 
presenting  a  report  which  will  be  read  at  this  session.  Of  course  there 
might  have  been  a  word  here  and  there  which  some  member  might  have 
wished  replaced;  but  these  are  minor  details,  and  the  Report  will  come 
to  you  as  the  unanimous  report  of  all  the  committee,  heartily  in  accijrd 
as  to  the  principles  embodied  in  it. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  work  done  on  that  Report  since  the 
meeting  in  Indianapolis.  It  has  been  gone  over  repeatedly  and  improved 
in  many  ways.  It  was  very  fortunate  for  that  Report,  though  veiy  \\u- 
fortunate  for  Mr.  Doming,  that  nearly  all  that  work  of  final  revision  has 
necessarily  fallen  on  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  although  he  has 
had  a  most  worthy  and  capable  co-laborer  in  Professor  Goodnow. 

The  work  of  presenting  the  Report  and  the  accompanying  papers  has 
been  so  carefully  arranged,  and  the  explanation  of  all  points  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Report  so  complete  that  it  is  only  a  waste  of  your  time  for 


COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


me  to  attempt  to  enl.oi'ge  upon  it.  I  will  only  make  one  remark  in  that 
connection:  The  committee  has  never  for  one  moment  yielded  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  is  possible  to  make  any  system  so  perfect  by  itself  and 
in  itself  to  secure  good  municipal  government.  I  have  always  felt  that 
we  must  have  the  development  of  an  active,  continuous  interest  on  the 
part  of  the  intelligent  voters,  and  many  of  the  points  of  that  Report  have 
been  designed  for  that  express  purpose. 

Without  detaining  you  further,  we  will  proceed  with  the  business  of 
the  convention,  by  asking  the  Hon.  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff,  who  needs 
no  introduction  to  you,  to  read  his  Report  as  Secretary. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  George  Burnham.  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia,  the  Chair 
was  authorized  to  appoint  a  Committee  on  Nomination  of  Officers  to 
serve  for  the  ensuing  year,  which  he  did,  as  follows: 

J.  S.  Rossell,  Wilmington,  Delaware. 

Wm.  A.  Giles,  Chicago,  Illinois  . 

F.  B.  James,  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

The  Chair:  The  reading  of  the  Report  of  this  committee  is  to  take 
place  after  the  reading  of  the  Treasurer's  Report,  so  if  that  committee 
can  be  ready  to  report  at  that  time  we  will  be  glad  to  hear  it. 

Mr.  W^oodruff  then  read  his  Report,  entitled  "A  Year's  Advance." 
(See  Appendix). 

Hon.  George  W.  Ochs,  Chattanooga:  I  move  that  the  thanks  of  the 
I^eague  be  tendered  to  Mr.  Woodruff  for  his  Report.  It  is  one  of  the  best, 
clearest,  ablest,  most  comprehensive  reports  we  have  ever  had,  and  our 
thanks  should  be  recorded. 

This  motion  was  unanimously  carried. 

The  Chair:  The  next  business  before  us  is  the  Report  of  the  Treasurer, 
Mr.  Burnham. 

Mr.  Burnham  read  the  following  Report: 

George  Burnham,  Jr.,  Treasurer,  in  Account  With  National  Municipal 

League. 

RECEIPTS. 

Balance,  December  1,  1898 $385  72 

From  members'  dues   1480  00 

From  contributions  .  . . ' 308  15 

From  sales  Proceedings  280  53 


$2454  40 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


EXPENDITURES. 

For  printing  and  stationery .$.539  65 

For  postage 567  44 

For  Louisville  Proceedings  (balance) 50  00 

For  Indianapolis  Proceedings  225  00 

For  general  expenses,  including  clerical  work,  clip- 
ping bureau,  expressage,  etc 914  95 

$2297  04 
Balance $157  36 

Mr.  Burnham:  I  would  suggest  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to 
audit  this  Repoi't— the  vouchers  are  all  here. 

The  Secretary:  I  move  that  the  report  be  received  and  referred  to  an 
Auditing  Committee  of  two. 

This  motion  was  adopted. 

The  Chair  appointed  Messrs.  G.  W.  Ochs  and  Merris  Taylor  as  a  com- 
mittee to  audit  the  accounts  of  the  Treasurer. 

The  Chair:  The  next  business  on  the  program  is  the  election  of  offi- 
cers.   Is  the  Committee  on  Nominations  ready  to  report? 

Mr.  Rossell:  The  Committee  on  Officers  and  Members  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  to  serve  for  the  ensuing  year  has  the  honor  to  report  the 
following  nominations: 

OFFICERS: 

For  President,  James  C.  Carter,  New  York. 

For  First  Vice-President,  Charles  Richardson.  Philadelphia. 

For  Second  Vice-President,  Samuel  B.  Capen,  Boston. 

For  Third  Vice-President,  Thomas  N.  Strong,  Portland.  Ore. 

For  Fourth  Vice-President,  H.  Dickson  Bruns,  New  Orleans. 

For  Fifth  Vice-President,  Edmund  J.  .James.  Chicago. 

For  Secretary,  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff,  Philadelphia. 

For  Treasurer,  George  Burnham,  Jr..  Philadelphia. 

FOR   EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 

Charles  J,  Bonaparte,  Chairman,  Baltimore. 
William  G.  Low,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Dudley  Tibbits,  Troy. 
.Joseph  A.  Miller,  Providence. 
Frank  N.  Hartwell,  Louisville. 
George  W.  Guthrie.  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
George  W.  Ochs,  Chattanooga,  Tonn. 
Harry  A.  Garfield,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


Oliver  McClintock,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
JohB  A.  Butler,  Milwaukee. 
Hector  Mcintosh,  Philadelphia. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

JOHN  S.  ROSSELL, 
WM.  A.  GILES, 
FRANCIS   B.   JAMBS, 
Committee. 

Mr.  Frederick  Tuke,  Cincinnati:  I  move  that  the  rules  be  suspended 
and  the  Secretary  authorized  to  cast  the  ballot  of  the  League  for  the  per- 
sons recommended  by  the  Committee  on  Nominations. 

In  accordance  therewith,  the  Secretai-y  announced  that  he  had  so 
cast  the  ballot  of  the  Association,  and  the  Chair  declared  that  those 
named  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Nomination  of  Officers  had  been 
unanimously  elected  as  the  officers  of  the  League  for  the  ensuing  year. 

Mr.  Horace  E.  Deming.  New  York:  It  seems  to  me,  Mr.  Presidenr, 
that  perhaps  this  is  the  appropriate  moment  for  me  to  say  a  word,  in  view 
of  what  you  said  a  few  moments  ago,  which  your  well  known  kindness 
led  you  to  color  somewhat.  It  would  be  somewhat  unfortunate  as  well 
as  untrue  if  an  impression  is  had  that  the  work  of  revising  our  proiwsed 
Constitutional  Amendment  and  Municipal  Corporations  act  was  the  work 
of  any  one  man. 

Those  of  you  who  happen  to  be  acquainted  with  the  individuaJ  mem- 
bers of  the  Committee  know  that  no  one  man's  report  would  be  received. 
You  will  remember  that  at  the  Indianapolis  meeting,  the  Committee  was 
instructed  to  take  its  work  home  and  go  over  it  again  in  the  light  of  the 
discussion  had  there,  and  in  the  light,  also,  of  such  further  suggestions 
and  criticisms  as  might  be  made. 

A  special  addition  of  the  draft,  as  amended,  was  printed  and  sent 
out  to  thinkers  and  workers  on  this  subject  everywhere  in  the  United 
States.  Criticisms  shorty  criticisms  long,  criticisms  cursoi-y  and  criti- 
cisms elaborate  were  received.  These  were  copied  and  copies  put  into 
the  hands  of  every  member  of  your  Committee.  The  suggestions  were 
tabulated  and  classified  and  these  were  put  into  the  hands  of  evei-y  mem- 
ber of  your  Committee.  Your  Committee  met,  discussed  these  criticisms 
and  these  suggestions,  and  your  Committee  held  not  only  personal  meet- 
ings, but  numerous  meetings  by  correspondence;  and  when  the  final 
draft  was  reached,  that  was  printed  and  was  in  its  turn  sent  around  to 
the  members  of  the  Committee,  and  another,  and  another,  and  another— 
and  I  don't  know  how  many  final  drafts,  until  at  last,  in  the  form  in 
which  it  will  appear  here,  it  was  printed. 

No  one  man  can  claim  the  credit  of  that  work.  It  is  the  work  of  not 
only  sincere  and  honest  reformers,  but  of  very  able  men  from  all  parts 
of  this  country,  who  viewed  the  work  from  the  point  of  view  of  their 
local  conditions  as  well  as  from  the  general  point  of  view.    I  think  the 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


Committee  is  entitled  to  state  that  and  I  think  you  will  be  glad  to  know 
that  the  work  has  been  done  as  carefully  as  it  was. 

One  other  thing— while  our  specific  recommendations  are  embodied  in 
the  form  of  the  proposed  Constitutional  Amendment  and  Act,  the  report 
of  the  Committee  includes  not  merely  these,  but  the  explanatory  papers 
prepared  on  the  part  of  the  Committee  and  edited  by  the  Committee  with 
the  same  care  that  the  work  of  drafting  the  Constitutional  Amendment 
and  Municipal  Corporations  Act  was  done.  Some  of  these  were  presented 
at  the  meeting  at  Indianapolis;  others  will  be  presented  here;  and  these 
official  papers,  together  with  the  Constitutional  Amendment  and  Muni- 
cipal Corporations  Act,  constitute  the  Report  submitted  for  your  consid- 
eration. 

The  Committee  felt  also  that  it  would  be  wise  and  helpful  if  at  this 
meeting  of  the  league  we  could  have  presented  by  an  expert  authority 
on  municipal  questions— a  man  who  had  proved  himself  by  the  quality 
and  amount  of  his  work  in  this  line  already  done  with  success— a  careful 
examination  and  analysis  of  our  proposed  Constitutional  Amendment 
and  Municipal  Corporations  Act  from  his  point  of  view,  and  that  is  the 
occasion  of  the  next  paper  to  be  read.  Mr.  Wilcox  has  had  no  meetings 
with  the  Committee,  no  personal  conferences  with  the  Committee.  Their 
papers  were  submitted  to  Mr.  Wilcox  and  he  was  asked  to  give  expert 
judgment  on  them. 

The  Secretary:  I  desire  to  state  that  any  member  who  desires  can 
secure  from  me  at  the  close  of  the  present  session  a  copy  of  the  proposed 
Constitutional  Amendment  and  Municipal  Corporations  Act. 

At  the  same  time  he  read  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Columbus 
Club,  extending  to  all  members  of  the  league  the  courtesies  of  the  Club 
while  in  the  city. 

The  Chair:  The  next  item  on  the  program  is  a  paper,  entitled  "An 
Examination  of  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program,"  by  Dr.  Delos  F.  Wil- 
cox, of  Michigan. 

Dr.  Wilcox  then  read  his  paper,  entitled  "An  Examination  of  the 
Proposed  Municipal  Progi-am."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  We  have  gone  through  the  program  for  the  afternoon,  but 
the  hour  is  not  late,  and  if  it  is  desired  to  have  some  discussion  of  the 
matters  which  have  been  brought  before  us,  the  meeting  will  be  very 
glad  to  hear  it. 

Mr.  Rossell:  I  desire  to  call  attention  to  the  invitation  from  the  Colum- 
bus Club,  which  was  read  awhile  ago,  and  on  which  no  action  was  taken. 
If  in  order,  I  will  move  that  proper  acknowledgment  be  sent  to  the  Colum- 
bus Club  with  the  thanks  of  the  Conference  for  the  courtesies  extended. 
This  motion,  duly  seconded,  was  carried. 

Mr.  Tuke:  As  the  matter  of  civil  service  and  the  merit  system  was 
brought  up  by  Mr.  Wilcox,  I  will  say  that  I  have  prepared  a  short  address 
on  that  subject  and  as  it  is  not  long  and  the  Chairman  declares  it  in  order, 
1  should  like  to  read  it  now. 

The  Chair:  What  is  the  pleasure  of  the  meeting? 


COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


On  motion,  Mr.  Ttike  was  given  tlie  privilege  of  reading  his  paper, 
wliieh  he  proceeded  to  do. 

Mr.  Tuke  (of  the  Taxpayers'  Association  of  Cincinnati):  It  is  appar- 
ent to  all  of  us  that  the  task  of  purifying  municipal  government  is  a  diffi- 
cult one,  and  yet  of  great  importance  to  our  people.  In  order  to  render 
any  little  assistance  in  my  power  in  that  direction,  I  shall  briefly  state  a 
few  remedies,  which,  according  to  my  observation,  would  work  towards 
this  end. 

One  of  the  very  first  reforms  needed  is  unquestionably  the  merit 
eystem.  No  public  employe  should  be  dismissed  without  cause,  nor  for 
political  reasons.  Such  a  system  of  civil  service  would  reduce  the  ex- 
pense of  maintaining  the  municipal  government,  which  would  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  reduction  in  the  tax  rate.  It  would  give  more  efficient  service 
to  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time  be  a  blessing  to  the  employes,  even  at 
less  wages.  Without  the  assurance  of  permanent  positions,  few  first- 
class  Avorkingmen  will  leave  their  steady  employment  in  the  mercantile 
world  to  accept  a  city  position,  with  all  its  evils  and  uncertainties.  Be- 
cause of  this  very  fact,  those  who  cannot  find  steady  employment,  on 
account  of  inability  or  vicious  habits,  generally  seek  and  obtain  city  posi- 
tions. 

If  a  young  man  of  exemplary  habits,  accepts  a  public  position,  his 
discharge  is  always  liable  to  occur  at  the  next  election,  and  the  c-onse- 
quent  idleness  is  vei-y  often  the  cause  of  ruining  the  whole  career  of  this 
former  promising  young  man. 

I  earnestly  believe  that  the  system— "To  the  victor  belongs  the  spoils," 
which  makes  every  public  office  uncertain,  is  the  direct  cause  of  more 
idle  and  worthless  lives,  than  any  one  thing  I  could  name.  Any  person 
depending  upon  a  public  position  for  support,  cannot  with  reasonable 
safety  get  married,  as  the  uncertainty  of  his  position  leaves  great  doubt 
as  to  his  ability  to  support  a  family  at  all  times.  These  and  a  great  many 
other  reasons  plainly  show  that  a  proper  civil  seiwice  system  is  of  ad- 
vantage to  public  servants  as  well  as  to  the  tax-payers. 

Another  great  improA^eraent  would  be  a  non-partisan  ballot  at  all 
municipal  elections;  to  have  all  the  names  of  candidates  printed  on  the 
ballot,  without  designating  any  party  thei'eon.  With  such  a  system  any 
reasonable  voter  would  certainly  vote  for  the  best  qualified  man  for  the 
position.  At  present  a  great  many  are  led  to  vote  a  straight  ticket,  with- 
out considering  personal  fitness,  whereas  a  non-_partisan  ballot,  and  the 
names  of  the  candidates  printed  in  alphabetical  order  would  compel  every 
voter  at  least  to  consider  or  pass  upon  every  candidate.  A  strong  par- 
tisan feeling  is  agitated  and  supported  by  the  practical  politicians,  not 
so  much  for  principle,  as  out  of  a  desire  to  control  the  public  offices  and 
appointments.  Therefore,  the  average  voter,  without  direct  interest  in 
public  office,  would,  with  a  non-political  ballot  in  use,  seriously  consider 
the  personal  qualifieationK  of  every  candidate  before  him.  This  would 
cause  every  party  to  indorse  the  most  favorably  known  persons,  as  other- 
wise they  could  not  expect  to  succeed  at  an  election. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


The  merit  system  as  well  as  the  non-partisan  ballot  will  be  recom- 
mended to  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  at  its  next  session  by  the  Ohio  Munici 
pal  Code  Commission,  and  the  main  features  of  this  Report  have  been 
endorsed  by  nearly  every  prominent  business  organization  of  Hamilton 
county.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  such  provisions  will  in  time  be 
enacted  in  every  State  of  the  Union,  for  the  benefit  of  all  citizens,  outside 
of  the  political  bosses,  who,  with  their  horde  of  assistants,  are  greatly  in 
the  minority.  Nevertheless,  their  strength  under  present  conditions  must 
not  be  underestimated,  and  they  will  do  all  in  their  power  to  prevent  just 
such  reforms. 

In  most  localities  these  bosses,  with  the  assistance  of  the  ward  work- 
ers, have  the  nominating  power  entirely  under  their  control.  These  ward 
workers  are  compensated  mainly  by  positions,  without  the»r  other  qualifi- 
cations being  even  considered,  and  they  likewise  receive  a  small  share  of 
the  fund  collected  by  the  leaders  from  each  candidate.  This  way  of 
forcing  every  candidate  to  pay  to  get  a  nomination,  keeps  our  better 
class  of  citizens  from  being  candidates.  At  the  primaries,  the  candidates 
are  selected  by  the  party  leaders,  and  they  generally  select  only  such 
delegates  whose  votes  they  can  control.  These  tactics  are  practiced  more 
or  less  by  all  parties,  in  every  large  city,  and  in  the  absence  of  united 
efforts  on  the  part  of  the  better  class  of  citizens,  they  nearly  always  suc- 
ceed. 

Among  the  remedies  needed  to  change  these  deplorable  circumstances 
in  municipal  government  I  desire  to  mention  only  one  at  this  time,  and 
that  is,  in  my  humble  opinion,  that  an  organization  should  be  effected  in 
every  county,  city  and  ward,  among  those  whose  interests  are  directly 
opposed  to  the  interests  of  the  politicians. 

The  tax-payers,  who  pay  every  dollar  unjustly  expended,  certainly 
have  a  more  direct  interest  in  municipal  affairs  than  any  other  class. 
They  are,  so  to  say,  the  stockholders  of  a  city.  "Therefore,  it  is  not  only 
their  privilege;  nay,  it  is  their  duty,  to  look  after  their  own  affairs."  I 
don't  mean  to  say  that  those  who  pay  no  taxes  have  not  equally  good  in- 
tentions, but  the  direct  tax-payers  on  account  of  their  interest  should 
justly  bear  the  burden  occasioned  by  foi-ming  and  sustaining  such  an 
organization.  "What  would  you  think  of  a  stockholder  of  a  corporation 
who  would  leave  the  management  of  his  business  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
his  employes,  without  carefully  considering  their  integrity  and  qualifica- 
tions?" As  long  as  the  tax-payers  wait  for  others  to  protect  them,  thi.y 
can  expect  no  protection. 

Therefore,  it  is  to  be  earnestly  hoped  that  every  State,  county  and  dis- 
trict will,  in  the  near  future,  form  an  organization,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  other  non-political  bodies,  to  influence  the  Legislature,  to  cause 
them  to  enact  proper  measures  of  reform.  These  organizations  can  in  a 
great  many  ways  be  of  much  good  to  the  community,  and  their  affiliation 
with  the  National  Municipal  League  will  add  to  their  own  strength,  as 
Y,'ell  as  to  the  success  of  the  League. 


lO  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


It  is  vei*y  plaiu,  to  every  one.  that  the  merit  system,  as  well  as  a  non- 
partisan ballot,  will  meet  the  opposition  of  all  the  selfish  political  leaders 
of  evei-y  party.  Therefore  an  organization  of  the  tax-payers  and  business 
inen,  who  have  nothing:  but  the  welfare  of  the  community  at  heart,  is 
absolutely  needed  to  secure  these  and  other  necessary  reforms.  All  hon- 
est voters  will  gladly  assist  them  in  their  efforts  for  good  government, 
provided  able  and  unselfish  leaders  are  selected  for  these  non-partisan 
organizations.  The  officers  should  he  persons  of  the  best  character  and 
ability,  and  should  in  no  way  be  under  obligations  to  any  party  or  faction, 
as  such  is  often  the  cause  of  the  organization  being  used  for  personal 
instead  of  public  interests. 

The  politicians  are  organized  for  the  purpose  of  controlling  offices! 
Now,  let  the  tax-payers  and  business  men  organize  to  enforce  business- 
like municipal  government.  The  great  majority  of  our  citizens  have 
honest  intentions,  and  would  therefore  sooner  support  these  unselfish 
organizations  than  the  politicians  for  revenue  only,  who,  without  the 
existence  of  an  active,  good  government  organization,  have  full  control. 
I,et  active  organizations  be  effected  in  every  large  city  at  least,  and  suc- 
cess is  bound  to  follow. 

The  Chair:  Is  any  further  discussion  desired  at  this  time?  If  so,  the 
way  is  open.    If  not,  a  motion  to  adjourn  will  be  in  order. 

Thereupon,  the  Conference  adjourned  until  8  o'clock  P.  M.,  to  meet 
;n  the  Auditorium  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 


SECOND  SESSION. 


"Wednesday  Evening,  November  1.5 

The  evening  meeting  was  held  in  the  Board  of  Trade  Auditorium, 
with  the  Hon.  E.  M.  Thresher,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  presiding. 

The  Chair:  I  find  myself  in  an  embarrassing  position,  being  called  at 
a  moment's  notice  to  preside  over  this  meeting.  I  have  two  suggestions 
and  a  congratulation  to  give.  The  first  is  one  of  regret  that  the  very 
large  number  of  our  friends  in  Columbus,  who  I  know  are  interested  in 
this  question,  and  who  I  am  sure  had  intended  to  be  here,  have 
been  unavoidably  detained  from  the  meeting;  and  the  other  is  one  of 
gratification  in  the  fact  that  what  this  meeting  lacks  in  quantity  it 
makes  up  in  quality.  We  have  here  those  who  represent  the  best  thought 
and  effort  of  the  counti-y.  And  the  cause  for  congratulation  is  this,  that 
in  the  presence  of  the  distinguished  gentlemen  who  are  to  address  you 
no  further  remarks  are  needed  from  me. 

I  therefore  take  great  pleasui*e  in  introducing  to  you  a  gentleman  se 
lected  by  the  Governor  of  the  State  out  of  the  great  number  of  able 
attorneys  of  the  State  to  classify  the  municipal  laws  of  Ohio,  the  Hon. 
Edward  Kibler,  of  Newark,  Ohio. 

Mr.  Kibler  then  read  a  paper,  entitled  "The  Work  of  the  Ohio  Munici- 
pal Code  Commission."    (See  Appendix.) 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  I  I 


The  Chair:  Among  the  names  of  those  whom  we  delight  to  honor  as 
Avilling  and  effective  workers  for  the  public  good,  no  one  stands  higher 
than  the  one  who  drafted  the  bill  which  passed  the  Legislature,  authoriz- 
ing the  appointment  of  a  Commission,  of  whose  worli  you  have  just 
heard,  the  Hon.  E.  J.  Blandin,  of  Cleveland,  whom  I  now  have  the  pleas- 
ure of  introducing  to  you. 

Judge  Blandin  then  delivered  an  address  on  the  same  topic.  (See 
Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  It  is  a  matter  of  great  regret  that  the  gentleman  whose 
name  next  appears  on  the  program  was  unavoidably  detained  from  being 
with  us;  but  though  absent  in  body,  he  is  more  than  with  us  in  spirit,  for 
ho  has  written  his  paper  and  has  committed  it  to  his  business  associate, 
who  is  present.  Gentlemen,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  Fred- 
erick C.  Howe,  of  Cleveland,  who  will  read  Mr.  Harry  A.  Gai*field's  paper. 

Mr.  Howe:  I  desire  to  say  that  Mr.  Garfield  fully  expected  to  be  here 
up  to  very  recently,  but  he  was  unexpectedly  called  to  New  York  city. 

The  subject  of  his  paper  relates  more  particularly  to  one  phase  of 
the  municipal  question  as  presented  at  the  present  day— that  is,  "The 
Relation  of  Public  Corporations  to  the  Cities." 

Mr.  Howe  read  Mr.  Garfield's  paper,  "The  Relation  of  Public  Corpora- 
tions to  the  Cities."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Secretary:  Before  the  meeting  adjourns  I  should  like  to  make  an 
announcement.  To-morrow  morning  the  Conference  will  convene  in  the 
Hotel  Chittenden,  and  the  principal  speaker  will  be  the  Hon.  Bird  S. 
Coler,  Controller  of  Greater  New  York,  upon  a  subject  peculiarly  fitted  to 
the  speaker  by  reason  of  his  experience  in  that  line  of  duties.  I  think 
we  can  promise  all  who  attend  a  meeting  of  unusual  interest.  Mr.  Car- 
ter will  also  be  present. 

The  subjects  to  be  discussed  involve  a  large  number  of  impoi-tjiiit 
questions,  mostly  of  an  interesting  character,  like  those  of  public  im- 
provements and  other  subjects  touched  upon  this  afternoon  and  evening. 

The  Chair:  I  beg  leave  to  emphasize  the  announcement  and  request 
of  the  Secretary.  One  of  the  inducements  for  the  coming  of  the  League 
to  the  city  of  Columbus  was  the  opportunity  of  presenting  to  the  citizens 
of  this  State  and  city  the  objects  and  work  of  the  League,  and  it  is  very 
desirable  that  there  should  be  at  least  a  representative  attendance.  I 
hope  each  one  of  the  audience  will  do  liis  utmost  to  bring  some  one  to  th** 
meetings  to  follow. 

Thereupon,  the  meeting  adjourned  until  Tliursday,  November  10, 
10.30  A.  M. 


THIRD  SESSION. 

Thursday,  November  16,  1899,  10.30  A.  M. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Mr.  Wm.  G.  Low,  of  Brooklyn. 

The  Secretary:  Will  all  the  delegates  present  please  hand  in  their 

credentials  during  tlie  morning,  so  that  the  official  list  can  be  made  up? 


12  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


A  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  will  be  held  immediately  at  the 
close  of  the  morning  session. 

The  Chair:  The  first  paper  on  the  prograxQ  is  "The  City's  Power  to 
Incur  Indebtedness  Under  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program,"  by  Hon. 
Bird  S.  Coler,  Controller  of  Greater  New  York.  In  advance  of  that 
paper.  Mr.  Deming  will  read  the  proposed  provisions. 

Mr.  Deming:  This  Municipal  Program  which  is  submitted  contains  a 
number  of  recommendations— 

At  this  point,  the  President,  Mr.  James  C.  Carter,  came  into  the  room 
and  was  greeted  with  most  cordial  applause  by  the  audience. 

Mr.  Carter  (taking  the  chair):  I  am  very  glad  to  meet  you,  gentlemen, 
and  regret  that  I  am  a  little  tardy  this  morning.  I  presume  you  have 
been  proceeding  with  the  business  for  the  morning. 

Mr.  Deming:  Our  program  contains  a  number  of  recommendations, 
and  the  merits  of  each  depend  considerably  upon  the  merits  of  all.  That 
is  to  say.  when  we  discuss  a  particular  recommendation  here,  we  should 
also  have  in  mind  what  the  other  recommendations  are  in  the  entire 
Program. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  better  illustration  of  the  truth  of  this  than  the 
provisions  of  the  progi-am  in  regard  to  municipal  indebtedness;  and  be- 
fore I  read  those  provisions,  which  are  very  brief,  and  before  listening  to 
the  discussions  which  we  are  to  have,  it  has  seemed  to  the  committee 
that  it  might  be  wise  to  spend  two  or  three  minutes  in  laying  before  you 
the  general  scheme  of  the  Program,  in  order  that  you  may  the  better 
judge  of  the  merits  or  demerits  of  tliis  particular  recommendation. 

In  the  first  place,  under  the  Program,  a  city  really  governs  itself.  It 
helps  itself,  hurts  itself,  improves  itself;  the  Legislature  has  nothing  to 
do  with  it.  The  government  proceeds  from  the  people  of  the  city.  It  is 
not  superimposed  by  any  outside  authority. 

In  the  next  place,  the  machinery  of  the  government  is  extremely 
simple;  we  elect  but  two  officers— the  Mayor  and  members  of  the  Council. 
The  Council  is  elected  on  a  general  ticket,  one-third  going  out  of  office  at 
each  election,  and  the  Council  is  not  a  very  large  body.  To  the  Mayor  is 
given  the  headship  of  the  administrative  service;  to  the  Council  is  given 
all  the  legislative  powers. 

To  such  a  city,  imder  this  Program,  is  given  all  powers  of  local  gov- 
ernment to  exercise  according  to  its  will.  That  is  the  theory  of  the  Pro- 
gram. 

Imagine,  therefore,  such  a  city  with  such  a  simple  framework  of 
govei-nment  already  in  existence.  Consider,  then,  that  at  the  present 
time  most  of  our  cities  have  reached,  or  nearly  reached  the  limit  of  their 
ability  to  incur  debi  under  existing  Constitutional  limitations.  Consider, 
thirdly,  that  under  the  provisions  of  this  Program,  we  believe  it  to  be 
the  right  of  the  city  to  decide  for  itself  whether  it  wishes  or  does  not 
wish  to  enter  upon  any  industrial  undertaking.  That  is  something 
which,  in  our  view,  not  the  Legislature  should  decide,  not  the  good  men 
of  the  town  should  decide,  not  you  and  I  here  should  decide— but  the 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  1 3 

people  of  the  town  should  decide.  And  those  of  us  who  oppose  this  ex- 
tension of  municipal  function  should  fight  it  out  in  our  towns,  and  not 
on  platforms  which  are  simply  opportunities  for  the  expression  of  sen- 
timent. 

How  is  the  city  to  exercise  such  power  when  it  already  has  reached 
its  debt  limit,  or  nearly  so?  That  is  what  we  are  to  discuss  this  morning 
—the  city's  power  to  incur  debt  under  the  Program.  It  is  not  an  al>stract 
proposition,  but  a  very  concrete  proposition,  whether  this  provision  fits 
into  the  rest  of  the  Program  or  not — whether  it  is  wise  or  unwise. 

Mr.  Deming  then  read  those  sections  of  the  proposed  Amendment  and 
Act  which  related  to  the  question  of  Municipal  Indebtedness. 

The  Chair:  You  have  heard  the  section  of  the  proposed  Constitutional 
Amendment  read  to  you,  and  the  subject  is  now  before  the  Conference 
for  debate.  We  have  the  Hon.  Bird  S.  Coler,  who  occupies  the  very 
eminent  place  of  Controller  in  the  city  of  Greater  New  York,  and  we  shall 
be  very  glad  to  hear  from  him. 

Mr.  Coler  then  read  his  paper,  entitled:  "The  City's  Power  to  Incur 
Indebtedness  Under  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  The  Hon.  William  Dudley  Foulke.  of  Richmond,  Indiana, 
will  now  address  us  on  the  subject  of  the  paper  of  Mr.  Coler. 

Mr.  Foulke:  I  feel,  Mr.  Chairman,  as  if  it  had  been  rather  a  mistake 
to  call  on  one  who  has  had  no  practical  experience  in  any  large  city,  or 
in  any  city,  who  comes  from  a  rural  city  in  a  State  regarded  as  particu- 
larly rural  among  her  neighbors,  to  discuss  this  question  and  the  admir- 
able paper  we  have  just  heard.  But  even  we  have  had  some  experience, 
not,  it  is  true,  in  regard  to  these  questions  of  multi-millions,  not  in  regard 
to  questions  of  international  significance,  but  in  regard  to  rural  town- 
ships. 

I  had  the  honor  to  be  chairman  of  a  committee  which  prepared  the 
codification  of  the  township  and  county  laws  of  Indiana,  passed  by  the 
last  Legislature;  and  in  reference  to  the  general  proposition  stated  by 
Mr.  Deming,  of  the  importance  of  allowing  the  individual  community  to 
take  care  of  its  own  affairs,  irrespective  of  State  influence,  I  would  like 
TO  state  our  experience. 

In  the  first  place,  we  had  a  township  system  which  was  very  simple. 
The  township  Trustee,  in  the  first  place,  made  all  levies,  levied  all  taxes, 
determined  how  much  should  be  levied  for  each  particular  work,  did  all 
the  work,  financed  the  matter  entirely  and  passed  upon  his  own  accounts. 
A  system  more  simple  than  that  would  be  hard  to  conceive.  There  was 
a  nominal  auditing  of  his  accounts  once  a  year,  but  it  was  only  nominal. 
In  respect  to  the  county  we  had  a  system  of  still  greater  simplicity.  It 
was  run  by  three  Commissioners. 

Of  course,  the  evils  became  insupportable,  and  of  course  we  at  once 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  State  should  interfere  and  take  away 
the  local  power  and  the  matter  should  be  stibject  to  State  regulation. 
But  fortunately  the  meeting  of  the  committee  to  draft  these  laws  fol- 
lowed very  shortly  after  the  meeting  of  the  National  Municipal  League 


14  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

at  Indianapolis;  and  the  importance  of  local  self-government  was  so 
strongly  impressed  upon  ns  that  it  caused  the  committee  to  resist  the 
pian  of  State  Control  and  leave  it  to  the  local  government,  based  on  the 
general  principle  which  runs  tlirough  this  proposed  charter.  There  is  en- 
tire self-control,  but  the  departments  of  government  are  entirely  distinct. 
The  local  Council  is  to  take  charge  of  the  legislative  department,  the 
imposition  of  taxes,  etc.,  and  it  is  all  made  as  public  as  possible.  At  a 
certain  time  the  local  Advisory  Board  of  township  representatives  have 
the  esitmates  published,  and  any  citizen  of  the  township  or  county  is 
I)ermitted  to  contest  publicly  any  portion. 

We  found  a  great  deal  of  opposition  in  the  Legislature— these  public- 
spirited  Trustees  who  had  administered  our  affairs  so  admirably  for  so 
many  years  spent  much  money  in  getting  a  formidable  lobby;  and  we 
found  that  the  bridge  companies  and  other  companies  were  interested  in 
having  good  laws  in  Indiana.  The  fight  seemed  doubtful  for  awhile, 
but  the  bill  finaily  passed.  We  have  had  one  year's  experience  with  the 
law,  and  from  the  complaints  and  howls  arising  from  county  and  town 
officials  from  the  curtailment  of  their  perquisites,  it  would  seem  it  is 
working  successfully.  In  one  county  it  has  diminished  the  expenses 
thirty  cents  on  the  dollar,  and  the  county  government  is  going  on  as  well 
as  before. 

Therefore,  I  thoroughly  coincide  with  the  views  expressed  by  Mr. 
Deming  in  the  principles  tliat  underlie  this  charter. 

But  we  have  found  that  some  limitation  upon  the  power  of  the  local 
community  is  very  desirable,  and  the  power  to  contract  indebtedness 
being  perhaps  the  most  dangerous  power  for  anybody  to  possess,  it  has 
been  counted  wise  to  limit  that,  as  in  New  York,  to  ten  per  cent.  It  is 
like  the  biennial  meetings  of  the  Legislature — if  the  meeting  of  the  Legis- 
lature is  a  bad  thing,  why  have  it  meet  at  all?  It  is  most  illogical.  Yet, 
on  the  whole,  it  is  found  to  work  better  than  the  old  p^an,  and  it  has 
perhaps  done  some  good  in  our  own  State. 

So  in  regard  to  debt  limitation.  The  ideal  plan  is  to  allow  the  com- 
munity to  talve  charge  and  incur  wliat  indebtedness  it  pleases,  because 
It  knows  its  own  necessities  and  the  means  of  satisfying  these.  Yet 
bitter  experience  has  led  to  putting  a  debt  limitation  upon  municipalities 
and  I  suppose,  in  the  lolig  run,  it  has  worked  well. 

The  time,  however,  has  come,  as  Mr.  Coler  has  well  shown,  where  the 
necessities  of  many  growing  communities,  and  the  new  tendency 
toward  the  transfer  of  private  corporations  exercising  public  functions 
to  the  municipality,  necessitates  the  adoption  of  another  plan  than  that 
comprised  in  debt  restriction. 

In  cities  where  there  is  no  public  ownership  of  water  works,  public 
libraries,  etc.,  I  tliink  ten  per  cent,  is  too  high  a  limit;  but  in  respect  to 
those  things  from  which  a  return  can  reasonably  be  anticipated,  the 
n^unicipality  should  have  the  right  to  exceed  that  amount. 

Let  us  take  Philadelphia — I  think  we  could  convince  the  citizens  of 
that  city  that  it  was  not  wholly  safe  to  trust  its  Common  Council  with 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  15 

the  power  of  expanding  indefinitely  its  own  indebtedness,  even  when  on 
its  face  the  project  might  be  regarded  as  productive  of  returns. 

If  a  new  water  Avorks  is  projected,  it  is  possible  by  some  of  the  means 
spoken  of  by  Mr.  Coler,  to  get  the  cost  so  high  that  a  moderate  interest  on 
the  investment  becomes  impossible. 

I  notice  in  this  provision  there  is  what  seems  to  me  a  vei*y  wise  state- 
ment—that whenever  it  is  proposed  to  go  beyond  the  debt  limitation,  the 
matter  is  to  be  submitted  to  the  people,  by  referendum,  practically: 
Bonds  authorized  by  the  affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  members 
of  the  Council,  approved  by  the  Mayor  and  approved  by  the  affirmative 
Aote  of  the  majority  of  the  qualitied  voters  of  the  city  voting  upon  the 
question  of  their  issuance  at  the  next  ensuing  city  election,  for  the  sup- 
ply of  Avater  or  for  other  specific  undertaking  from  which  the  city  will 
derive  a  revenue." 

I  say  if  you  cannot  leave  it  to  the  people  of  the  city  on  direct  vote 
to  say  what  it  needs  to  borrow,  you  cannot  leave  it  to  anybody.  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  further  limitation  might  add  to  the  popularity  and 
wisdom  of  the  section.  I  presume  those  things  which  bring  in  a  return 
ought  to  be  allowed  greater  limit,  but  there  should  be  some  limit  beyond 
which  the  city  could  not  go  to  contract  indebtedness.  If  ten  per  cent,  ii^ 
not  enough,  then  make  it  twenty  per  cent.,  or  some  per  cent,  beyond 
which  they  cannot  go;  for  a  corrupt  Council  or  a  bare  majority  of  the  clt 
izens,  not  representative  of  its  wealth,  or  taxpaying  population,  might 
have  the  power  to  fasten  on  the  citizens  indebtedness  which  might  end 
in  bankruptcy.  The  city  of  Elizabeth  is  a  good  example  of  this  possi- 
bility. 

The  Chair:  Mr.  William  A.  Giles,  of  Chicago,  will  continue  the  discus- 
sion. 

Mr.  Giles:  I  was  asked  to  speak  uiwn  the  clause  of  your  municipal 
charter  which  provides  "that  no  city  shall  become  indebted  for  any  and 
all  purposes  to  an  amount,  which  shall  exceed  a  definite  per  centum  of 
the  value  of  the  real  estate  within  her  jurisdiction  subject  to  taxation."' 

The  experience  of  Chicago  in  the  matter  of  taxation  and  of  debt  limit 
may  be  studied  profitably  by  the  student  of  municipal  problems.  Nowhere 
has  the  science  of  government  kept  pace  with  the  demands  of  great  mod- 
ern cities.  The  growth  of  Chicago  has  been  unparalleled.  Her  rulers,  how- 
ever wise  and  patriotic,  could  not  provide  for  her  marvelous  development. 
I'he  pressing  needs  wliich  broolced  no  delay,  the  heavy  burdens  of  immed 
iate  improvements,  and  the  inevitable  inexperience  and  inerficiency  of 
municipal  officers;  all  these  factors  combined  to  prevent  the  adoption  of 
a  far-sighted,  economic  policy. 

The  present  conditions  in  Chicago  are  admitted  by  all  to  be  deplor- 
able. Her  streets  are  dirty;  she  needs  more  electric  lighting;  she  lias  no 
garbage  or  street  cleaning  plants;  her  public  buildings  and  bridges  are 
in  shocking  need  of  repair;  life,  property  and  health  are  insufficiently  pro- 
tected.   These  defects  are  fully  realized  by  the  present  administration. 


l6  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


and  a  resolution  setting  forth  the  situation  was  recently  adopted  by  the 
City  Council  by  a  large  majority  and  approved  by  the  mayor.  It  was 
declared  that  the  city  was  unable  to  devise  Avays  and  means  to  carry  on 
the  city  government  and  existing  public  works,  and  to  make  the  neces- 
sary improvements.  An  assistant  corporation  counsel  recently  said  there 
were  pending  against  the  city  2100  suits  for  damages,  aggregating  $70,- 
000,000  of  claims.    Most  of  these  arose  from  the  defective  sidewalks. 

What  is  the  cause  of  this  unsatisfactory  state  of  affairs  in  our  city? 
Omitting  all  reference  to  the  usual  charges  of  political  jobbery  and  in- 
judicious expenditure  of  the  city's  revenues,  I  come  to  the  question  of 
taxation  and  the  limitation  of  the  city's  power  to  incur  indebtedness. 

Our  State  Constitution  of  1870  limited  this  power  to  five  per  cent, 
of  the  value  of  taxable  property,  in  the  municipality,  as  ascertained  by 
the  assessment.  The  framers  of  this  Constitution  acted  wisely  in  fixing 
a  rigid  limit.  Among  the  members  of  this  convention  were  many  of  the 
best  men  of  the  State,  among  whom  I  might  mention  the  late  Joseph 
Medill,  the  veteran  editor,  and  the  first  INIayor  of  the  city  after  the  great 
fire  of  1871;  S.  S.  Hays  and  ex-Mayor  John  C.  Haines.  It  was  undoubt- 
edly the  intention  of  the  framers  of  this  provision  to  make  the  five  per 
cent,  limit  apply  to  the  full  value  of  the  property.  The  debates  upon  the 
subject  would  confirm  this  opinion. 

This  restriction  would  have  been  a  reasonable  one,  but  xmder  the 
operation  of  the  law  it  has  proved  a  narrow  limit,  for  of  late  years— 
until  the  enactment  of  the  new  law— property  has  been  assessed  at  from 
one-eighth  to  one-tenth  of  its  real  value,  which  brought  the  bond  limit 
down  to  one-half  to  five-eighths  of  one  per  cent. 

The  Legislature  when  enacting  a  new  revenue  law  (which  provides 
mainly  for  a  change  in  the  method  of  making  assessments),  anticipating 
H  much  larger  assessment,  cut  this  Constitutional  limit  in  half,  prescribed 
a  limit  of  two  and  one-half  per  cent,  of  the  assessed  value  of  property, 
and  it  was  enacted  that  this  assessment  for  taxation  was  to  be  only  one- 
fifth  of  the  actual  value,  (the  actual  and  assessed  value  being  extended  in 
parallel  columns).  The  assessed  value  of  property  under  this  law  is 
approximately  $400,000,000,  the  real  value  of  the  property  being  about 
$2,000,000,000.  It  is  estimated  by  members  of  the  Board  of  Review  that 
the  assessment  next  year  will  reach  $450,000,000  on  the  real  value  of  $2,- 
250,000,000.  Under  the  law  as  it  stands,  the  existing  indebtedness  of  the 
city  of  about  $17,000,000  exceeds  this  Umit. 

The  repeal  of  this  two  and  one-half  per  cent,  limit  and  the  deduction 
of  the  World's  Fair  bonds,  which  were  provided  for  by  a  special  amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution,  would  permit  the  city  to  borrow  about  $7,000,- 
000  more.  I  should  here  state  that  the  $17,000,000  of  bonded  obligations 
does  not  include  all  the  different  classes  of  indebtedness  incurred  by  the 
municipal  corporations  or  taxing  powers  of  Chicago,  for  which  the  tax- 
payers of  Chicago  are  mainly  chargeable.  There  are  the  drainage  canal, 
park,  county  and  town  bonds  and  the  fioating  indebtedness  and  judg- 
ments aggregating  approximately  $40,000,000.    The  repeal  of  the  two 


FOR    GOOD    CITV    GOVERNMENT.  1/ 

and  one-half  per  cent,  limit  and  the  application  of  the  present  Constitu- 
tinal  five  per  cent,  limit  to  the  full  value  of  the  property  as  ascertained  by 
the  late  assessment  would  more  than  meet  the  requirements  of  the  city, 
but  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  the  public  would  approve  this  move 
without  the  most  rigid  limitation. 

Should  the  Legislature  pass  a  law  requiring  that  all  classes  of  in- 
debtedness should  be  included  under  the  limit,  and  that  no  further  bond 
issue  should  be  made  without  referendum  to  the  people,  and  for  special 
improvements,  it  is  possible  that  the  ai-rangement  might  meet  the  ap- 
pioval  of  the  tax-payers.  From  bitter  experience  the  people  are  afi'aid 
10  grant  large  power  and  large  sums  of  money  to  public  officials  for 
unlimited  expenditure.  It  is  said  of  the  $250,000,000  indebtedness  of  the 
city  of  New  York  that  not  mare  than  $150,000,000  was  used  for  the 
benefit  of  the  city;  still  under  reasonable  restraints  and  with  the  assur- 
ance of  a  fair  and  honest  expenditure  of  the  money,  I  believe  the  great 
merchants  and  tax-payers  of  Chicago  would  heartily  favor  a  reasonable 
issue  of  bonds  and  a  liberal  policy  as  to  public  improvements.  Person- 
ally, I  believe  that  under  proper  limitations  the  best  interests  of  the  city 
would  be  served  by  a  larger  bond  issue. 

There  is,  of  course,  a  reasonable  doubt  about  the  ruling  of  the  courts 
as  to  whether  the  Constitutional  limit  should  be  applied  to  the  ascer- 
tained value  or  to  the  value  extended  for  the  purposes  of  taxation.  As 
I  have  stated,  the  total  indebtedness  of  Chicago  is  not  large,  being  abou  t 
$40,000,000,  with  a  population  of  nearly  2,000,000,  while  Philadelphia  has 
p.  bonded  indebtedness  of  about  $40,000,000,  and  a  population  of  1,250,000, 
and  Boston  has  a  bonded  indebtedness  of  nearly  $58,000,000,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  700,000. 

The  credit  of  Chicago  is  good  and  she  can  readily  borrow  money  at  3 
and  4  per  cent.,  notwithstanding  which  she  is  paying  from  5  to  6  per  cent, 
upon  more  than  $2,000,000  of  judgments  against  the  city.  The  city 
leeently  made  many  permanent  public  improvements  by  current  taxa- 
tion. Among  these  I  might  mention  the  erection,  at  a  cost  of  $2,000,000, 
of  a  public  libraiT  building,  which  is  surpassed  by  only  one  of  the  kind  in 
the  United  States;  of  a  City  Hall  at  a  cost  of  $1,200,000,  and  of  school 
buildings  and  bridges  at  a  cost  of  nearly  $30,000,000,  besides  large  ex- 
penditures in  water  extension,  di-ainage,  etc. 

These  public  works  are  in  the  line  of  permanent  improvements,  and 
1  think  a  part  of  the  outlay  might  well  have  been  distributed  over  a 
longer  period  of  time,  and  the  funds  used  to  make  a  more  beautiful, 
healthful  and  progressive  city. 

I  may  add  that  the  rate  of  taxation,  in  Chicago  is  not  high,  and  that 
under  the  new  law  the  rate  is  limited  to  one  per  cent.,  except  the  State 
and  school  building  tax,  on  the  full  value  of  the  property,  and  the  total 
probably  will  not  exceed  this  year  one-fifth  of  one  per  cent.  Frequently 
special  assessments  have  been  made  for  improvements,  which  in  most 
other  cities  are  made  bv  a  general  tax  and  the  burden  has  been  great. 


I 8  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

The  per  capita  tax  in  Chicago,  aside  from  special  assessments,  is  about 
$12,  as  against  $20  in  New  York  and  $30  in  Boston. 

I  thiuli  we  are  all  agreed  that  there  should  be  a  careful  limitation  of 
the  powers  of  a  city  to  run  into  debt.  It  is  notorious  that  in  many  cases 
municipalities  have  been  permitted,  even  encouraged,  to  incur  obliga- 
tions, which  should  have  been  met  by  living  tax-payers.  We  are  now  in 
a  period  of  reaction,  and  the  control  of  municipalities  by  the  central  au- 
thority is  perhaps  tending  to  become  too  rigid.  Yet  control  there  must 
be.  No  advocate  of  home  rule  m  the  widest  sense  will  contend  that  there 
ought  to  be  no  fixed  constitutional  or  statutory  limit  upon  the  use  of  the 
credit  of  cities  and  the  imposition  upon  future  generations.  Even  in 
Great  Britain,  where  home  rule  has  been  carried  much  further  than  in 
the  United  States,  the  amount  of  money  which  cities  may  borrow  is 
regulated  by  law.  The  limitation,  however,  should  be  reasonable,  and 
should  have  reference  to  local  conditions. 

In  Chicago,  it  is  probable  that  with  a  proper  revenue  law,  intelli- 
gently and  honestly  administered,  and  with  careful  limitations,  money 
enough  may  be  borrowed  under  the  five  per  cent,  limit  for  all  necessary 
special  improvements,  and  a  sufficient  revenue  produced  to  make  the 
city  clean,  fairly  lighted  and  policed,  well  paved  and  worthy  the  position 
she  occupies  as  the  metropolis  of  the  great  Northwest. 

The  Chair:  I  regret  to  say  that  word  has  been  received  from  Mr. 
Bonaparte  that  an  actual  engagement  in  court,  in  the  trial  of  a  case, 
prevents  his  attendance,  for  which  we  are  sorry. 

Mr.  George  C.  Sikes,  Chicago:  I  wish  to  say,  in  opening,  that  Chicago 
Should  get  as  much  benefit  from  the  work  of  this  League  as  any  other 
city  of  the  country.  It  is  sadly  in  need  of  charter  reform.  We  have 
about  sixteen  taxing  boards  exercising  authority  in  the  teiTitory  of 
Chicago.  As  soon  as  we  can  get  Constitutional  changes,  which  we  hope 
for  at  an  early  date,  we  will  have  the  problem  of  drafting  a  new  charter, 
end  certainly  the  work  of  this  League  will  be  instructive  and  beneficial 
for  Chicago. 

I  think  highly  of  the  Program  as  a  whole,  but  have  been  asked  to 
talk  upon  this  feature  of  bonded  indebtedness,  one  of  the  few  features 
to  which  I  take  some  exception.  I  read  the  Program  of  the  Committee 
presented  last  year,  which  provided  that  bonds  might  be  authorized 
under  certain  conditions,  from  which  the  city  might  derive  revenue. 
There  it  stopped.  A  short  time  afterwards  I  read  a  criticism  of  this 
feature  by  Mr.  Foote.  Though  my  point  of  view  is  opposed  to  that  of 
Mr.  Foote  on  the  general  proposition  of  municipal  ownership,  I  thought 
Mr.  Foote's  criticism  well  taken  and  that  I  could  subscribe  to  it. 

He  said  it  was  not  enough  to  provide  that  there  should  be  no  limit 
where  the  enterprise  would  produce  a  revenue.  According  to  this  pro- 
vision it  is  assumed  that  the  undertaking  wiU  never  become  a  chai-ge 
upon  the  city;  but  how  do  you  know  it  will  pay  and  not  become  a  charge? 
0£  course,  we  know  the  experience  of  States  in  the  last  half  century  ia 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  I9 

which  they  have  ran  heavily  in  debt  in  this  way,  and  cities  have  started 
out  in  undertakings  of  this  liind  which  have  proved  most  distressing 
burdens,  though  they  were  not  intended  to  be  a  chai-ge.  It  is  nol  right 
to  say  you  have  a  debt  limitation  when  you  leave  open  a  course  which 
niaj-  prove  a  most  distressing  burden. 

I  see  this  year  a  change  has  been  made  and  that  recognition  has  been 
made  of  that  criticism.  I  will  not  read  it,  because  it  has  been  read.  I 
would  criticise  that  change  from  the  fact  that  it  simply  recognizes  that 
criticism,  but  does  not  make  a  vital  change.  It  reads:  "But  from  and 
after  a  period  to  be  determined  by  the  Council,  not  exceeding  five  j-ears 
f!'om  the  date  of  such  election,  whenever  and  for  so  long  as  such  an  un- 
deitaking  fails  to  produce  sufficient  revenue  to  pay  all  costs  of  operation 
and  administration,"etc.  Tbat,  I  .iudge,  is  a  compromise  not  thoroughly 
satisfactory  to  all  the  members  of  the  committee.  According  to  that 
clause,  the  bonds  for  public  service  industries  are  not  to  be  included  in 
the  public  debt  limit;  but  if  at  the  limit  of  a  certain  p?riod,  they  shall 
rot  prove  self-supporting,  then  they  are  to  be  included.  But,  as  I  under- 
stand, when  the  city  has  exceeded  its  limit,  it  can  embark  upon  public 
service  industries,  upon  the  assumption  that  they  will  be  self-supporting: 
but  if  not,  the  bonds  become  a  charge  upon  the  city  again;  and  in  that 
way  the  indebtedness  can  be  increased  indefinitely.  And  if  my  under- 
standing is  correct,  there  is  no  limit  upon  the  indebtedness  which  can 
be  incurred  for  public  service  industries.  If  that  is  the  case,  the  clause 
should  not  be  added,  for  the  meaning  is  not  changed  from  the  way  it 
read  last  year.  The  essential  meaning  is  not  changed.  If  the  clause 
means  nothing,  it  had  better  be  struck  out. 

But  that  raises  the  discussion  of  the  question  as  to  whether  the  city 
s^liould  be  authorized  to  issue  bonds  for  public  service  industries  in 
unlimited  amount.  I  should  not  think  it  wise,  and  it  will  bring  criticism 
upon  this  body  if  the  Report  goes  out  permitting  cities  to  issue  bonds  for 
public  service  industries  to  an  unlimited  extent.  Some  limit  should  be 
imposed,  not  only  on  the  ground  of  expediency,  but  on  the  ground  of 
right. 

Where  a  city  has  reached  the  limitation,  then  it  should  issue  bonds 
upon  the  property.  Let  the  bonds  be  a  mortgage  upon  the  franchise 
property  and  income.  For  instance,  in  Chicago,  we  would  like  to  own  the 
street  railways.  If  it  had  reached  the  limit  of  bonded  indebtedness,  then 
it  should  be  able  to  mortgage  the  street  railway  property,  create  a  mort- 
gage on  the  franchise.    I  think  that  would  answer  the  purpose. 

Will  private  owners  of  wealth  lend  money  when  the  only  security  is 
the  property  itself?  That  is  the  question.  The  rate  per  cent,  may  be 
higher  when  not  covered  by  city  bonds,  but  why  should  not  Ihe  city  pay 
tour  per  cent.,  as  the  railway  company  does?  I  think  that  would  be 
better  than  submitting  the  citizens  to  the  risk. 

Until  the  limit  is  reached,  I  think  the  city  should  have  the  option  of 
mortgaging  the  property  or  issuing  bonds;  but  when  the  limit  has  been 


20  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

readied  and  the  city  wants  to  engage  iu  public  service  indiistrj%  I  tliinji 
it  would  be  Avise  to  raise  the  money  on  the  property. 

The  question  is  then  raised  that  the  bondholders  might  acquire  the 
property  that  way,  that  it  would  be  an  easy  way  to  get  a  franchise.  That 
goes  back  to  the  distrust  of  the  government,  and  you  might  as  well  dis- 
trust the  government  to  issue  unlimited  bonds  as  to  allow  themselves  to 
be  drawn  into  an  euteri^rise  of  this  kind.  The  mortgage  sliould  not  run 
longer  than  the  franchise. 

It  seems  the  city  has  a  right  to  protect  itself,  because  it  has  it  in  its 
power,  when  it  sees  the  enterprise  is  not  paying,  to  raise  charges.  Sup- 
pose it  was  running  a  lighting  plant  and  it  seemed  about  to  default  on 
iTiterest  on  the  bonds  issued,  the  city  could  raise  its  charges  and  iu  thai 
way  the  community  could  save  itself  from  danger. 

It  seems  to  me  we  should  change  that.  If  we  are  going  to  adhere  to 
the  policy  of  no  limitation,  I  would  prefer  to  have  the  additional  clause 
stricken  out,  because  it  means  nothing,  and  there  should  be  some  check 
upon  unlimited  indebtedness.  I  think  the  right  check  to  impose,  when 
the  debt  limitation  has  been  reached  is  to  make  the  additional  bonds  a 
lien  upon  the  franchise  property  and  income. 

The  following  letter  from  E.  M.  Johnson,  the  Comptroller  of  Indian- 
apolis, was  presented: 

I  regret  that  the  great  press  of  other  business  at  the  time  of  your 
meeting  will  prevent  my  being  present.  I  have,  however,  studied  with 
interest  the  Constitutional  Amendment  and  Municipal  Corporations  Act 
so  far  as  it  relates  to  the  power  of  cities  to  incur  indebtedness,  and  beg 
to  make  the  following  suggestions  and  amendments. 

"No  political  or  municipal  corporation  in  this  State  shall  ever  become 
indebted,  in  any  manner  or  for  any  purpose,  to  an  amount  in  the  aggre 
gate  exceeding  two  per  centum  of  the  taxable  property  within  such  cor- 
poration, to  be  ascertained  by  the  last  assessment  for  State  and  county 
taxes  previous  to  the  incurring  of  such  indebtedness;  and  all  bonds  or 
obligations  in  excess  of  such  amount,  given  by  such  corporation,  shall 
be  void;  Provided,  That  in  time  of  war,  foreign  invasion,  or  other  great 
public  calamity,  on  petition  of  a  majority  of  the  property  owners,  iu 
number  and  value,  within  the  limits  of  such  corporation,  the  public  au- 
thorities, in  their  discretion,  may  incur  obligations  necessary  for  the 
public  protection  and  defense  to  such  an  amount  as  may  be  requested 
in  such  petition." 

The  above  is  the  Constitutional  provision  with  reference  to  municipal 
debt  in  Indiana.  It  has  been  in  operation  in  Indiana  during  the  past 
twenty  years  and  has  been  of  great  advantage  to  the  cities  and  towns 
of  the  State.  I  would  suggest,  as  an  addition  to  that  part  of  Section  2. 
submitted  to  me,  that  you  add  a  provision  authorizing  municipal  corpor- 
ations to  issue  bonds  to  refund  indebtedness  of  the  corporation  existing 
when  this  article  was  adopted. 

AVith  regard  to  temporary  loans,  I  do  not  think  that  any  certificates 
(if  indebtedness  or  revenue  bonds,  as  designated  in  the  amendment  sent 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  21 

me.  should  evei-  be  allowed  to  become  permanent.  In  this  connection, 
I  append  that  part  of  the  Indianapolis  Charter  with  reference  to  this 
matter. 

"Temporary  loans  may  be  authorized  by  ordinance  of  the  Common 
Council  in  anticipation  of  the  revenue  of  the  city  for  the  current  and  fol- 
lowing year,  and  payable  within  that  period,  but  the  aggregate  amount  of 
such  temporary  loan  in  any  fiscal  year  shall  not  exceed  the  amount  of  the 
city  tax  levy  for  the  same  year.  No  temporary  or  other  loan  upon  th<» 
revenue  of  any  current  or  succeeding  year  shall  be  made  imtil  all  tem- 
porary loans  upon  the  revenue  of  any  preceding  year  shall  have  been 
fully  paid." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  framers  of  our  charter  had  the  idea  in  mind 
that  a  temporary  indebtedness  should  never  become  permanent,  and  that 
the  expenses  of  the  city  should  be  paid  out  of  the  current  revenues  of 
the  city.  I  believe  it  will  be  found,  on  reflection,  that  this  provision  ig 
sound  in  every  respect. 

I  like  that  provision  of  the  proposed  amendment  which  authorlzea 
the  city  to  acquire  revenue  producing  public  utilities,  and  would  only 
suggest  that  some  manner  of  determining  what  constitutes  a  majority 
of  the  qualified  electors— in  other  words,  that  tlie  majority  is  to  be  de- 
termined by  the  figures  of  the  last  State  or  national  election.  In  this 
manner,  the  expression  of  a  very  small  vote  would  be  without  weight 
and  the  sentiments  of  the  actual  majority  would  be  ascertained. 

It  has  been  my  expeiience  that  the  limit  of  indebtedness  should  be 
a  Constitutional  provision  and  not  legislative  and  subject  to  change  at 
will.  On  account  of  assessment  laws  and  the  frequent  changes  in  the 
mode  of  assessment,  however,  I  believe  that  the  rate  of  taxation  should 
lie  fixed  by  the  Legislature.  This  for  the  reason,  for  instance,  that  a 
Legislature  might  exempt  all  mortgaged  property  from  taxation  up  to  a 
certain  amount.  It  might  be  seen  that  the  Constitutional  rate  of  taxa- 
tion would  not,  under  these  circumstances,  produce  sufficient  revenue, 
in  some  cities,  to  pay  current  expenses. 

Mr.  Frederic  C.  Howe,  Cleveland:  The  suggestion  which  Mr.  Sikes 
just  made  seems  at  first  to  be  rather  unique,  but  it  occurred  to  me  sub- 
sequently that  that  was  exactly  what  the  city  of  Detroit  did  last  year 
when  they  were  discussing  taking  hold  of  the  street  railway  properti*^^^ 
and  operating  them  througli  a  City  Commission.  The  mere  fact  that  this 
suggestion  has  been  attempted  in  a  practical  way  by  a  city  leads  me  to 
mention  it. 

Under  the  proposition  made  tliere,  the  Street  Railway  Commission, 
composed  of  three  men,  proposed,  and  nearly  reached  an  adjustment, 
but  were  stopped  by  the  Supreme  Court,  by  Avhich  the  street  railway 
properties,  at  a  valuation  of  seventeen  millions  of  dollars,  were  to  be 
converted  into  stocks  and  bonds,  to  be  issued  by  the  City  Commission. 
The  contract  was  entered  into  between  the  owners  and  the  city,  by 
wliich  the  security  should  be  limited  to  the  road  and  franchise;  and  the 
terms  upon  whicli  the  street  railway  company  was  to  l)e  operated,  the 


22  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

rates  of  fare,  sinking  fund  provided  for,  as  well  as  other  details  entering 
into  the  ordinary  municipal  franchise,  were  to  be  included  in  the  morr- 
g'ages  from  the  city  under  the  adjustment.  It  was  arranged  that  tho 
city  proper  as  a  coiTporation  apparently  did  not  assume  any  corporate 
liability  except  in  this  restricted  sense.  The  old  owners  of  the  road  en- 
tered into  relations  with  the  Commission  and  were  to  have  certain  pow- 
ers of  oversight  and  investigation,  and  being  entitled  to  certain  unique 
contractu  ral  rights  not  usual.  It  has  not  been  carried  out,  but  It  struck 
me  as  rather  unique. 

Mr.  Low:  I  should  like  to  get  some  information  as  to  the  use  of  the 
word  "qualified,"  as  applied  to  voters.  I  should  like  to  ask  if  the  com- 
mittee had  knowledge  of  any  city  where  the  voting  upon  such  a  proposi- 
tion would  be  confined  to  tax-payers?  In  villages  incorporated  under 
the  general  law  the  only  people  who  vote  upon  a  matter  of  this  kind  are 
the  tax-payers. 

The  Chair:  I  suppose  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  qualified  voter  is  simply 
the  voter  who  is  qualified  to  vote. 

Mr.  Low:  I  wondered  if  there  was  any  city  restricting  voting  on  such 
questions  to  the  tax-payers. 

The  Secretary:  I  think  New  Orleans  permits  only  tax-payers,  whether 
men  or  women,  either  by  direct  vote  or  by  proxy,  to  vote  on  such  ques- 
tions. 

Mr.  Deming:  The  word  "qualified"  was  put  in  because  it  was  noit 
intended  to  apply  to  any  particular  State;  and  when  applied  to  any  State 
it  means  the  qualified  voter  of  that  particular  State. 

Mr.  Tuke:  In  the  unlimited  issue  of  bonds,  I  think  it  would  be  a  good 
idea  to  have  a  two-thirds  vote.  I  certainly  agree  that  the  tax-payers 
should  have  the  right  to  say  who  shall  expend  their  money.  But  this  is 
different;  it  gives  everybody  a  vote  and  in  this  unlimited  power  to  issue 
bonds,  I  would  suggest  we  make  it  a  two-thirds  vote.  Tax-payers  should 
be  liberal.  Money  expended  for  proper  public  improvements  is  not  lost. 
All  foreign  governments  that  were  liberal  in  times  past,  liberal  in  public 
improvements,  were  prosperous. 

Dr.  Milo  R.  Maltbie,  New  York:  I  would  like  to  ask  the  committee 
who  drew  the  act  one  question  in  reference  to  the  last  line  of  the  para- 
graph commencing,  "Provision  shall  be  made  at  the  time  of  their  issue," 
why  confine  the  issue  of  every  bond  to  twenty  years?  As  I  understand. 
it  would  be  illegal  to  provide  for  another  issue  to  repay  them,  so  that  all 
bonds  are  limited  to  twenty  years. 

Mr.  Deming:  That  is  intended  as  a  suggestion  on  the  part  of  the 
committee,  as  approximately  the  number  of  years  for  which  the  city 
bonds  shotild  have  life. 

Mr.  Low:  As  to  the  point  raised  by  Mr.  Tuke  in  regard  to  the  size  of 
the  affirmative  vote,  I  learn  that  sometimes  in  Mayor  Ochs'  State  tho 
Legislature  requires  the  vote  to  be  two-thirds. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


Mr.  Ochs:  On  the  question  of  the  issuing  of  $700,000  of  street  anrl 
sewer  bonds  in  Oliattanooga,  tlie  Legislature  requii-ed  a  three-fourths 
vote,  and  there  have  been  cases  in  the  State  where  a  two-thirds  vote  was 
required,  and  they  never  permit  issues  of  bonds  by  any  municipality  un- 
less submitted  to  a  popular  vote. 

The  Chair:  You  have  a  just  abhorrence  of  debt  there  apparently. 

Mr.  M.  N.  Baker,  New  York:  In  regard  to  limitations  on  the  period  for 
which  bonds  are  issued,  it  seems  pertinent  to  observe  that  the  proper 
way  is  to  vary  the  length  of  term  of  bonds  in  accordance  with  the  char- 
acter of  the  works  to  be  constructed,  and  having  in  mind  the  probable 
life  of  the  works.  We  can't,  of  course,  extend  too  far  into  the  future 
because  of  this  very  matter  of  high  rate  of  interest  alluded  to;  but  going 
down  the  scale,  there  are  some  public  works,  or  portions  of  them,  which 
through  rapid  depreciation  will  not  last  as  long  as  twenty  years,  and 
l)erhaps  we  ought  to  come  down  the  scale  in  such  cases.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  the  city  is  to  build  a  water  purification  system  under  some 
system  of  construction  that  is  virtually  indestructible  so  far  as  the 
original  construction  is  concerned,  it  is  possible,  and  considerable  range 
should  be  given  to  the  limitation  in  order  to  fit  the  nature  of  the  par- 
ticular work.  This  is  commonly  done  in  England,  the  Board  often  re- 
stricting the  limit  of  payment  to  fifteen  or  ten  years,  especially  in  ex- 
perimental work. 

In  regard  to  the  suggestion  of  a  previous  speaker  that  the  bond  issue 
for  a  public  service  industry  should  be  made  a  lien  simply  upon  the 
property,  upon  the  improvement  itself,  it  occurs  to  me  that  this  and  a 
number  of  otlier  propositions  made  would  bring  municipal  ownership 
and  public  service  industries  upon  the  plane  of  private  ownership,  which 
is  to  rob  municipal  ownership  of  all  the  advantages  accruing  to  it. 

Dr.  Goodnow:  I  would  like  to  point  out  that  there  is  nothing  which 
limits  the  payment  of  those  bonds  to  twenty  years.  It  says  "within 
twenty  years."  It  may  be  five  or  fifteen,  but  it  cannot  be  more  than 
twenty.  We  did  not  put  it  at  more  than  twenty  years  because  we  felt 
it  would  increase  the  city's  power  to  incur  indebtedness.  The  people 
have  to  think:  "Here,  we  have  to  pay  this  in  twenty  years,"  and  that  will 
be  a  check  on  extravagance.  It  may  be  better  to  erase  "twenty"  and  in- 
sert blank  j^ears.    It  is  taken  from  tlie  New  York  State  Constitution. 

Mr.  Ochs:  I  do  not  wish  to  precipitate  a  discussion  of  municipal 
ownership,  but  pertinent  to  this  question  of  municipal  indebtedness,  is 
it  or  not  a  fact  that  the  English  municipalities  which  were  pioneers  in 
municipal  ownership,  are  now  exceeding  their  debt  limitation  to  sucb 
an  extent  that  measures  are  pending  to  restrict  this  bond  issue,  and  that 
some  cities  are  confronted  with  bankruptcy?  I  have  seen  publications 
to  that  effect  recently,  and  as  it  is  pertinent  to  this  discussion,  I  would 
like  to  have  some  light  on  it. 

Dr.  Goodnow:  They  have  had  a  system  in  England  which  is  so  differ- 
ent from  ours  that  Ave  cannot  compare  it.  The  debt  limit  is  not  fixed  by 
the  State  or  by  Constitution  because  they  have  none.    Every  municipality 


24  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


practically  has  to  come  up  before  the  Local  Government  Board  of  London 
-with  any  proposed  liond  issue,  and  this  Board  looks  into  it  to  see  if  it  is 
being  issued  for  a  pi^rpose  it  ought  to  be.  and  to  determine  when  it  ought 
to  be  paid  off,  and  once  in  a  while  for  an  exceptional  undertaking  they 
get  through  a  special  act  of  Pax'liament  giving  them  larger  powers  than 
the  Local  Board  would  give  them.  But  as  to  the  actual  fact  as  to  whether 
the  English  municipalities  have  been  incurring  indebtedness  to  an  extent 
that  has  financially  embarrassed  them,  Dr.  Maltbie  can  tell  us  that. 

Dr.  Maltbie:  I  think  I  know  the  origin  of  that  statement.  Last  sum- 
mer I  spent  two  months  in  Great  Britain  investigating  the  question  of 
municipal  ownership.  There  is  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  extreme 
Socialists  of  Great  Britain  to  municipalize  everything— bakeshops,  milk 
supply,  etc.,  for  example.  In  doing  this  they  are  encountering  great 
objection,  and  the  feeling  is  prevalent  that  they  ought  not  to  go  to  that 
extent;  they  ought  not  to  municipalize  things  in  which  competition  is  the 
regulator  of  prices  and  in  which  monopoly  should  have  no  part.  Instead 
of  being  a  movement  to  limit  public  service  industries,  the  movement 
in  the  other  direction  is  all  the  time  increasing  and  they  have  municipal 
gas  supplies,  tramways,  water  works,  and  there  is  now  a  movement  for 
municipal  telephones. 

As  to  being  overburdened  by  debt,  this  statement,  I  think,  is  not  true. 
Statements  have  been  made  and  comparison  made  between  the  debts  of 
municipalities  and  the  national  debt,  by  which  it  is  shown  that  municipal 
debts  are  increasing  and  the  national  debt  decreasing.  These  are  actual 
figures,  no  attempt  being  made  to  set  off  assets  against  liabilities.  It 
has  been  shown  by  the  people  that  it  is  their  desire  to  increase  municipal 
functions  in  this  direction,  and  that  would  show  they  are  certainly  not 
bankrupt. 

Mr.  Sikes:  Are  the  debts  all  against  the  cities,  or  are  there  instances 
where  they  are  a  lien  on  the  property? 

Dr.  Maltbie:  They  have  a  system  there  of  mortgaging  the  rates.  The 
central  authority  can  step  in  if  the  local  authority  does  not  and  compel 
them  to  levy  a  tax  to  pay  them.  Al]  of  the  debts  are  not  a  lien  on  the 
rates  in  that  sense,  and  I  don't  think  it  is  customary.  My  impression  is 
that  the  bonds  issued  for  public  sei-vice  industries  are  made  a  lien  on 
the  properties  themselves.  In  some  first  instances,  when  the  first  experi- 
ments were  made,  the  mortgage  was  upon  the  rates,  or  upon  the  taxes, 
and  were  an  indebtedness  of  the  corporation. 

Dr.  Wilcox:  It  seems  to  me  in  this  section  of  the  committee's  Report 
there  are  contradictoi"y  statements.  It  provides,  "whenever  and  for  so 
long  as  such  undertaking  fails  to  produce  sufficient  revenue  to  pay  all 
costs  of  operation  and  administration  (including  interest  on  the  city's 
bonds  issued  therefor  and  the  cost  of  insurance  against  losses  by  fire, 
accidents  and  injuries  to  persons)  and  an  annual  contribution  to  a  sinking 
fund  which  will  pay  at  or  before  maturity  all  bonds  issued  on  account 
of  said  undertakings."  etc.  The  next  paragraph  is.  "Provision  shall  be 
made  at  the  time  of  their  issue  for  raising  a  .sum  of  money  by  taxation 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  25 

sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  upon  all  city  bonds  as  it  falls  due.  and  to 
pay  and  discharge  the  principal  thereof  within  twenty  years  from  the 
date  of  their  issue."    I  would  like  to  have  these  explained. 

Dr.  Goodnow:  There  is  nothing  inconsistent  in  them.  All  we  claim 
under  the  first,  all  we  want  is  that  those  bonds  shall  not  be  included 
within  the  debt  limitation  if  the  undertaking  for  which  they  are  issued 
provides  a  certain  revenue.  Now,  at  the  same  time  it  is  provided  when 
those  bonds  are  issued  that  some  provision  shall  be  made  by  taxation 
for  their  payment.  There  is  no  inconsistency.  While  that  might  burden 
the  tax  levy,  the  receipts  from  the  undertaking  will  reduce  it  to  a  certaiu 
extent. 

Mr.  Wilcox:  Isn't  the  inference  that  the  revenue  should  be  set  aside? 
Dr.  Goodnow:  No;  we  were  very  careful  to  get  away  from  that  be- 
cause you  want  it  absolutely  certain  that  those  bonds  will  be  taken  care 
of.  and  it  would  be  a  check  upon  the  issue  of  tiie  bonds. 

Mr.  Wilcox:  Would  not  that  preclude  the  diverting  of  the  revenne 
from  the  enterprise? 

Dr.  Goodnow:  What  goes  into  the  general  fund  may  relieve  the  tax 
duplicate— that  was  our  idea.  If  it  is  not  carried  out  I  hope  the  gentleman 
will  point  out  how  to  do  it. 

Mr.  Sikes:  In  this  clause,  you  have  not  changed  the  meaning  any? 
Mr.  Deming:  Yes,  we  have.  I  think  it  would  be  well  to  revert  to  the 
topic  under  discussion,  which  is  the  city  power  to  incur  indebtedness 
under  the  proposed  municipal  program— not  in  the  abstract,  not  in  Chi- 
cago, not  in  New  York,  not  in  Philadelphia,  not  in  New  Orleans— but 
in  a  city  oragnized  under  this  proposed  Program  having  this  kind  of  a 
government.    That  is  the  proposition. 

Do  you  or  do  you  not  believe  that  a  real,  representative  democracy, 
such  as  this  proposed  city  would  be,  clothed  with  all  the  powers  of 
government  within  its  limits,  but  at  this  time  unable  to  incur  indebted- 
ness on  account  of  its  past  history— do  you,  or  do  you  not  believe  that  that 
city  should  have  power  to  act?  Now,  the  committee  believes  it  should. 
The  committee  believes  that  the  question  of  the  amount  of  debt  is  a 
question  to  be  determined  by  the  city.  The  committee  is  permeated 
with  the  faith  that  the  government  of  the  town  should  proceed  from  the 
people  of  the  town,  not  from  the  National  Municipal  League,  even. 

Now,  whether  or  not  you  should  have  this  or  that  or  the  other  par- 
ticular limitation  here  is  but  a  question  of  local  policy  to  be  determined 
by  the  locality.  We  believe  the  city  should  decide  for  itself  whether  it 
sliould  improve  its  docks,  whether  it  should  have  rapid  transit,  or  under- 
take any  of  the  other  public  service  industries.  Some  of  us  believe  it 
should  not  do  these  things,  but  we  think  the  city,  not  we,  should  be  al- 
lowed to  decide  it. 

Hut  if  the  city  has  reached  the  debt  limit,  as  some  have,  what  is  the 
use  of  giving  it  that  power— it  cannot  exercise  the  power.  Therefore,  act- 
ing upon  the  experience  in  connection  with  water  works  pretty  well 
everywhere  throughout  this  country,  and  acting  upon  knowledge  of  the 


26  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

sort  that  Mr.  Coler  has  put  into  his  very  able  paper  this  morning,  we  said, 
here  is  a  principle  that  can  be  followed  where  an  undertaliing  takes  care 
of  itself  and  wipes  out  the  debt  incurred  for  it— it  is  not  a  debt.  We 
will  stick  to  that  principle;  we  will  not  try  to  qualify  it.  We  will  not 
make  any  compromise  or  modification  of  this  fundamental  principle.  Wo 
deemed  it  wise,  however,  to  put  into  the  proposed  Constitutional  Amend- 
ment, as  drafted  this  year,  a  definition  of  what  is  meant  by  such  an 
imdertaking.  See  if  it  is  not  clear.  We  have  not  tried  to  make  it  tech- 
nical, but  tried  to  make  it  clear,  positive,  exactly  the  kind  of  undertaking 
that  is  meant— an  undertaking  which  will  pay  "all  bonds  issued  on  ac- 
count of  said  undertaking,"  etc.  We  say  that  when  a  city  engages  in  that 
sort  of  enterprise  it  is  not  incurring  any  debt,  it  is  not  putting  any  debt 
on  the  tax-payer.  So  finally,  in  acting  upon  this  recommendation— we 
do  not  expect  that  the  last  word  has  been  said  upon  this  subject;  we  do 
not  say  it  is  gospel  and  it  certainly  is  not  yet  law;  but  we  do  say,  there 
is  a  principle  which  can  be  put  in  operation  and  which  we  ask  you  to 
help  us  to  try  to  have  put  in  operation  to  enable  the  city  to  perform  its 
functions. 

I  shall  be  glad  to  answer  any  specific  questions.  I  have  tried  to  con- 
fine myself,  in  summing  up,  rather  to  the  request  that  you  would,  in 
voting  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  committee,  vote  upon  the  prin- 
ciple and  policy.  If  that  is  clear,  never  mind  our  craftsmanship.  No 
doubt  others  can  do  the  phraseology  much  better,  and  no  doubt  it  will 
be  done  in  the  States  that  take  it  up,  where  there  will  be  further  thought 
and  further  intelligence  given  to  it. 

The  Chair:  If  the  Auditing  Committee  is  prepared  to  submit  its  Re- 
port, the  opportunity  is  now  open. 

Mr.  Ochs:  I  beg  to  submit  the  following  Report  on  behalf  of  the 
Auditing  Committee: 

The  Auditing  Committee  has  examined  the  accounts  and  vouchers 
of  the  Treasurer  and  found  the  same  to  be  correct  as  reported. 

GEO.  W.  OCHS, 
MORRISS  TAYLOR. 

The  Chair:  The  Report  will  be  received  and  placed  on  file. 
The  Secretary  read  the  following  telegram  from  Houston,  Texas: 
"I  send  greetings  from  Texas,  trusting  that  this  annual  meeting  of 
the  League  will  result  in  impressing  upon  our  citizens  the  importance  of 
municipal  reforms,  the  necessity  of  honest  business  management  of 
municipal  affairs  and  the  adoption  of  civil  service  rules  versus  the  spoils 
system. 

(Signed)  J.  H.  PASTORIZA,  Houston,  Texas." 

The  Secretary  also  read  a  cordial  invitation  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  National  Civil  Service  Reform  League  to  attend  its  meeting  at  Indian- 
apolis on  December  14  and  15. 

The  Chair:  At  this  point  the  Conference  will  take  a  recess  until 
two-thirty. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT-  2/ 


FOURTH  SESSION. 

Thursday,  November  16,  1899,  2.30  P.  M. 

Mr.  Carter:  The  first  thing  in  order  is  a  paper  on  "Political  Parties 
and  City  Government  Under  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program,"  by  Dr. 
Frank  J.  Goodnow. 

Di'.  Goodnow  then  read  his  paper:  "Political  Parties  and  City  Gov- 
ernment Under  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  Dr.  Goodnow's  paper  will  be  followed  by  a  paper  by  Mr. 
John  A.  Butler,  of  Milwaukee,  discussing  the  same. 

"Mr.  Butler  then  read  his  paper.    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  Next  is  a  paper  on  "Public  Opinion  and  City  Government 
Under  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program,"  by  Mr.  Horace  B.  Demiug,  of 
New  York. 

Mr.  Deming  then  read  a  paper  on  "Public  Opinion  and  City  Govern- 
ment Under  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  In  the  discussion  now  in  order  upon  this  paper  I  shall 
recognize  Mr.  John  S.  Rossell,  of  Wilmington. 

Mr.  Rossell:  So  closely  identified  with  the  work  of  the  National 
Municipal  League  has  been  the  movement  for  reform  in  Wilmington, 
Delaware,  that  it  is  most  appropriate  on  this  occasion  to  note  the  develop- 
ment of  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  better  urban  life  in  the  metropolis  of 
Delaware,  and  to  point  out  a  few  of  the  provisions  of  the  Wilmington 
Bill,  which  are  similar  in  principle,  at  least,  to  certain  provisions  of  the 
Program. 

Let  me  say,  however,  first,  that  the  Wilmington  Bill  is  the  work  of 
a  commission  established  by  the  I^egislature  when  it  had  grown  weary 
of  governing  the  city.  That  commission  was  established  in  1895,  and  it 
immediately  placed  itself  in  touch  with  the  work  of  the  National  Muni- 
cipal League  and  drew  from  the  efforts  of  tlie  members  of  that  League 
the  inspiration  which  carried  it  to  the  completion  of  the  measure  now 
pending;  and  so  thoroughly  was  its  work  done  that  it  was  said  in  criti- 
cism of  the  bill  that  it  might  be  a  proper  measure  for  the  government  of 
a  community  of  angels,  but  not  for  the  city  of  Wilmington;  that  the 
commission  had  proceeded  upon  the  hypothesis  that  it  was  drafting  a 
Constitution  for  a  sovereign  State  and  not  making  a  law  for  the  govern- 
ment of  a  free  city. 

At  the  very  threshold  of  our  investigation,  we  discussed  with  our- 
selves the  question,  "Are  our  fellow  citizens  capable  of  self-government, 
comprising  as  they  do  one-third  of  the  entire  population  of  our  State, 
as  intelligent  and  as  progressive  as  any  people  in  the  Union?"  We  came 
quickly  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were  capable  of  self-government  and 
that  they  should  be  given  the  right,  and  that  it  should  be  made  plain  to 
them  that  it  was  their  duty,  to  manage  their  own  local  affairs.  So,  re- 
garding our  peculiar  conditions  and  our  peculiar  institutions,  in  form, 
wo  yielded;  in  principle,  we  stood  unmoved. 


28  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


We  look  away  from  our  Council  the  disturbing  and  demoralizing 
influence  of  patronage  and  confined  it  to  the  enactment  of  such  ordi- 
nances as  were  needful  for  the  government  of  the  city.  The  Mayor  we 
clothed  with  full  power  of  administration  and  focused  upon  him  the 
fullest  responsibility.  In  the  matter  of  franchises,  we  provided  that 
Ihey  could  be  granted  only  for  twenty  years,  under  such  conditions  and 
restrictions  as  the  Council  might  prescribe;  but  not  the  Council  alone 
could  grant  them;  the  Council  and  the  Mayor,  representing  the  corpora- 
tion in  its  full  organization,  should  act  together  in  granting  the  right 
to  use  our  streets. 

In  the  exercise  of  the  dangerous  power  of  debt  creation,  we  went  a 
step  further,  and  while  requiring  that  an  ordinance  to  be  operative  should 
receive  the  votes  of  two-thirds  of  our  Council  and  the  approval  also  of 
the  Mayor,  prescribed  that  the  people  upon  whose  property  the  debt  cre- 
ated would  become  a  burden  should  be  consulted,  and  unless  the  ordi- 
nance had  the  approval  of  the  majority-  of  the  voters  it  should  not  go  into 
effect.  The  limit  we  prescribed  to  be  ten  per  cent,  of  the  assessed  valua- 
tion of  our  real  estate.  The  Board  of  Ti-ade  Committee,  which  now  has 
the  charter  bill  in  hand,  has  reduced  the  limit  to  seven  per  cent.  Our  debt 
to  day  is  two  millions  of  dollars  upon  an  assessed  valuation  of  forty  mil- 
lions of  property;  but  I  wish  to  say  in  this  connection,  and  somewhat  in 
explanation  of  our  debt,  that  perhaps  we  are  somewhat  more  fortunate 
that  other  cities  in  this  respect,  in  that  our  public  buildings^om-  w^ater 
works,  our  school  buildings,  our  parks,  are  worth  more  than  the  debt 
which  covers  the  property  of  the  tax-payers. 

The  movement  goes  steadily  onward  in  Delaware,  and  I  am  happy 
in  the  thought  that  I  will  be  able  to  go  back  to  my  home  with  such  an 
encouraging  report  as  the  proceedings  of  this  Conference  will  enable 
me  to  make,  and  while  the  Wilmington  Charter  Bill  is  not  as  far  ad- 
vanced as  the  Model  Program,  yet  is  is  in  the  same  dii'ection— it  is  a 
step  in  that  direction— and  the  Model  Program  will  serve  the  purpose  of 
influencing  sentiment  in  its  favor;  and  once  we  secure  the  right  to 
govern  ourselves,  to  take  charge  of  our  own  affairs,  and  the  Legislature 
is  relieved  of  the  obligation  of  looking  after  us,  we  will,  I  have  no  doubt, 
go  further  in  the  direction  of  municipal  reform  and  add  to  our  first  re- 
form charter,  the  principal  features  of  the  Model  Program. 

The  Chair:  Francis  Bacon  James,  Esq.,  of  Cincinnati,  is  called  upon 
to  discuss  the  subject  presented  by  Mr.  Deming's  paper. 

Mr.  James:  In  the  paper  just  read  by  Mr.  Deming  it  was  well  said 
that  an  "honest,  efficient  and  progressive  city  government  is  impossible 
without  the  support  of  a  strong  public  opinion." 

On  the  question  of  municipal  government  there  has  not.  in  the  past, 
existed  an  enlightened  public  opinion  nor  an  opportunity  to  express  it 
if  it  existed.  The  electors  have  not  been  educated  to  segregate,  in  their 
minds,  city  government,  and  to  consider  it,  by  itself,  as  a  factor  separatc- 
from  the  national  and  State  government  for  securing  the  common  good 
f-.nd  promoting  the  general  welfare.    As  the  electors  have  become  in- 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  29 

formed  on  this  subject,  they  have,  from  time  to  time,  attempted  to  give 
expression  to  the  opinions  entertained  by  them.  The  number  has  l>een 
comparatively  small,  but  their  leadership  has  begun  to  find  expression, 
not  among  the  office-holding  classes,  but  the  citizens  who  are  not  and 
who  do  not  expect  to  become  office  holders.  The  leadership  of  these 
educated  men  is  showing  itself  through  civil  service  reform  associa- 
tions, municipal  leagues,  civic  leagues,  good  government  clubs,  bar 
associations  and  commercial  bod^ies.  The  professional  politician  has 
watched  with  fear  and  trembling  the  growth  of  public  opinion  and  the 
effort  to  express  it.  He  has,  therefore,  attempted  to  prevent  its  foi-ma- 
tion,  and  when  formed,  prevent  its  expression.  From  citizens  enjoying 
civil  liberty  under  a  democracy  the  inhabitants  of  our  cities  have  become 
subjects  under  the  forms  of  democracy.  Paternalism  has  not  been  thar 
of  a  "good  father,"  described  by  Mr.  Deming,  but  that  of  a  "bad  father." 
who,  instead  of  giving  to  his  children,  talies  from  them  their  opportuni- 
ties to  develop  and  their  right  to  pursue  happiness. 

The  great  effort  of  the  political  corruptionist  has  been  to  prevent 
the  formation  of  public  opinion  on  questions  of  municipal  government. 
This  has  been  accomplished  in  many  ways.  Partisanship  has  been  en- 
couraged; class  has  been  arrayed  against  class;  newspapers  have  been 
started  professing  to  be  the  advocates  of  a  political  "boss."  Other  papers 
have  passed  into  the  control  of  the  "bad  father,"  either  by  direct  purchase 
of  a  controlling  interest  in  the  capital  stocli  or  by  promising  sheriff's 
advertising  and  tax  advertisements  in  considerations  of  support. 

In  the  city  of  Cincinnati  great  efforts  have  been  made  to  educate  the 
people.  Persistently  and  consistently  the  best  citizens  of  that  city  have 
organized  during  the  past  four  years  to  give  the  citizens  good  govern- 
ment. At  times  the  political  boss  gained  his  point,  and  at  others  he  was 
overthrown,  but  not  completely  so.  The  people  of  that  city  have  just 
passed  through  a  bitter  struggle.  The  regular  county  IlepubUcan  Com- 
mittee passed  a  resolution  which  required  every  person  offering  to  vote 
at  the  primary  to  pledge  liimself  that  he  would  support  the  unknown 
nominee  of  the  so-called  Republican  Convention.  The  people  who  were 
enlightened  upon  the  public  questions  declined  to  attend  the  primaries, 
and  organized  a  mass  meeting  or  independent  Republicans.  The  Demo- 
cratic Convention  met  the  same  day.  And  a  conference  of  the  independ- 
ent Republican  Convention  and  the  Democratic  Convention  named  a 
ticliet.  Three-fourths  of  that  ticket  was  elected  before  the  people.  But 
one  Senator  and  two  Representatives  on  the  Fusion  ticket  were  defeated. 
JNIany  of  those  elected  have  openly  and  publicly  declared  themselves  in 
favor  of  the  proposed  Ohio  Municipal  Code,  as  drafted  by  Judge  David 
F.  Pugh  and  Hon,  Edward  Kibler.  The  gang  has  now  become  desperate. 
It  was  but  yesterday  that  the  regular  Republican  organization  adopted 
resolutions  boycotting  "The  Commercial  Tribune,"  the  morning  Repub- 
lican newspaper,  for  supporting  the  Fusion  ticket.  These  resolutions 
were  as  follows: 


30  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


"Whereas,  The  Cincinnati  "Commercial  Tribune"  is  patronized  by 
a  large  number  of  Republicans  in  this  city,  county  and  State  upon  the 
theory  that  it  is  a  Republican  journal;  and 

"Whereas,  The  standing  committees  of  the  Hamilton  County  Central 
Committee  have  in  their  possession  positive  proof  that  the  President  as 
well  as  the  Genera!  Manager  of  that  paper  during  the  late  campaign 
supported  the  Democratic  State  and  county  tickets;  and 

"Whereas,  The  attitude  of  the  "Commercial  Tribune"  during  the  lare 
campaign  has  been  such  that  it  should  no  longer  be  accepted  as  a  Re- 
publican newspaper,  under  its  present  management;  and 

"Whereas.  It  is  the  judgment  of  your  committee  that  these  facts 
should  be  properly  presented  to  the  Republicans  of  this  county  and  State, 
in  order  that  they  may  not  be  misled  or  deceived  in  the  future;  and 

"Whereas,  It  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  this  committee  that  it 
i?  the  intention  of  certain  persons  to  establish  in  this  city  an  English 
morning  Republican  newspaper;  and 

"Whereas.  It  is  the  judgment  of  your  committee  that  such  an  enter- 
prise deserves  the  support  of  all  Republicans  of  the  county  and  State; 
and 

"Whereas,  The  attitude  of  "The  Commercial  Tribune,"  in  selling  out 
.•;nd  supporting  the  Democratic  party,  warrants  the  condemnation  of  all 
loyal  Republicans;  therefore,  be  it 

"Resolved,  By  the  Hamilton  County  Republican  Central  Committee 
as  follows: 

"1.  That  the  action  of  "I'he  Commemal  Tribune"  in  selling  out  to 
and  supporting  the  Democratic  ticket  be,  and  the  same  is,  hereby  de- 
nounced. 

"2.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  members  of  this  committee  to 
ascertain  what,  if  any.  Republicans  subscribe  to  or  patronize  "The  Com- 
mercial Tribune"  in  their  respective  precincts,  and  to  notify  such  per- 
sons, as  w'ell  as  all  other  Republicans,  of  the  action  of  this  committee  of 
this  day.  in  order  that  such  persons  may  not  be  deceived  by  this  paper 
in  the  future. 

"3.  Every  member  of  this  committee  shall  be  directed  to  encourage 
and  promote  in  their  respective  localities  the  enterprise  looking  towards 
the  establishment  of  a  morning  Republican  newspaper  in  this  city. 

"4.  The  Advisory  Committee  shall  be  directed  to  have  printed  the 
complete  proceedings  of  this  day,  and  to  transmit  a  copy  thereof  to  the 
following  persons: 

"a.  To  each  delegate  and  each  alternate  to  the  last  Republican  State 
and  County  Conventions. 

"b.  To  each  member  of  every  Republican  Central.  Executive  or  other 
committee  in  this  State,  including  every  precinct  committeeman. 

"c.  To  every  Republican  candidate  at  the  last  election  in  every 
county  of  the  State. 

"d.  To  every  Republican  newspaper  in  the  State. 

"e.  And  to  such  other  persons  as  the  committee  may  deem  advisable, 
and  to  request  all  such  persons  to  co-operate  with  this  committee  in  its 
efforts  to  purge  the  party  from  the  baneful  influence  of  hypocritical 
journals  standing  ready  to  betray  their  party  at  most  critical  times." 

The  comments  made  upon  this  action  by  the  Cincinnati  "Enquirer" 
are  as  follows: 

"The  Hamilton  County  Republican  Committee  held  a  meeting  yester- 
day, at  which  it  officially  writhed  under  the  castigation  the  people  gave 
the  ring  at  the  election  on  the  7th  inst.  It  proceeded  to  solemnly  read 
the  'Commercial  Tribune"  out  of  the  party,  and  to  denounce  all  men  who 
had  not  supported  the  gang  at  the  polls.    The   'Enquirer'    does  not  con- 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  3 1 


ceal  its  gratification,  after  many  years  of  political  warfare,  to  find  some- 
tbing  in  tlie  'Commercial  Tribune'  to  commend.  It  cannot  be  entirely 
devoid  of  vii*tue  if  it  receives  the  denunciation  of  the  political  thugs  and 
robbers  who  have  ruled  this  city  to  its  almost  ruin  for  many  years,  and 
who  are  now  in  a  white  heat  of  rage  because  the  decent  people  of  the 
community  have  tal^eu  them  by  the  throats  and  branded  them  as  moral 
outcasts.  The  'Commercial  Tribune'  may  well  be  proud  of  the  hatred  of 
the  gangsters.  It  is  the  tallest  feather  in  its  cap.  It  is  the  brightest  page 
in  its  record.  And  incidentally  we  might  observe  that  it  is  a  good  omen 
of  prosperity  for  it.  for  the  decent  people  are  going  to  have  charge  of 
this  city  and  county  hereafter,  and  they  will  not  want  a  paper  that  is 
to  be  put  in  circulation  through  the  browbeating,  bullying  methods  of 
the  Cox  crowd.  The  performance  of  the  committee  yesterday— a  com- 
mittee that  does  not  represent  the  Republican  party  of  this  county,  but 
only  a  powerful  ring  of  tax  'grafters'  -shows  that  the  election  this  fall 
struck  home.  The  gang  organization  is  going  to  pieces  by  the  head 
weight  of  its  own  rottenness.  It  is  a  loud-smelling  affair,  and  every 
clean  man  holds  his  nose  as  he  passes  it.  Every  man  who  is  aimed  at 
by  the  impertinent  resolutions  of  the  gang  committee  is  instantly  ele- 
vated in  the  opinion  of  the  people  in  general,  and  if  he  is  a  Republican  he 
immediately  takes  high  standing  in  the  real  Reptiblican  party.  The 
Cox  crowd  has  l>een  whipped,  and  is  now  reduced  to  the  guerrila  style  of 
warfare.  The  Legislature  being  Republican,  it  hopes  to  get  further  into 
the  pockets  of  the  tax-payers  by  ripping  up  the  charter  of  this  city.  It 
is  not  too  soon  for  the  business  men  of  Cincinnati— the  merchants,  the 
bankers,  the  manufacturers- and  all  who  desire  to  promote  public  and 
private  morals,  to  organize  against  a  raid  on  the  General  Assembly.  Let 
no  man  relax  his  efforts  because  the  ringsters  have  again  been  defeatcl 
at  the  polls.  Watch  the  robbers  at  Columbus.  The  fight  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  capitol." 

Here  was  a  direct  attempt  to  stifle  public  opinion  by  the  boycotting 
of  a  daily  paper,  and  overthrow  of  a  free  press,  which  is  the  basis  of  civil 
government  under  a  democracy. 

The  second  aim  of  the  political  corruptionist  is  to  prevent  the  ex- 
pression of  public  opinion.  In  Ohio,  prior  to  1891,  the  nominees  of  each 
political  convention  and  of  independent  citizens  printed  their  own  ballots. 
The  conditions  existing  in  Ohio  under  this  system  were  common  to  all 
States,  and  are  so  well  known  that  they  need  not  be  rehearsed.  There 
was  a  great  clamor  among  the  good  citizens  of  Ohio  for  the  adoption  of 
the  Australian  ballot  system.  A  bill  for  that  purpose  was  introduced  in 
the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  but  the  professional  politicians,  in  and 
out  of  the  Legislature,  secured  an  amendment  to  the  bill,  so  that  when 
it  became  a  law  it  introduced  the  element  of  political  parties  by  requiring 
the  printing  of  party  tickets  on  the  official  ballot.  The  politicians  there- 
by thought  that  they  had  suppressed  the  expression  of  independent  pub 
lie  opinion,  especially  on  local  questions.  But  the  good  citizens  overcame 
some  of  these  difficulties  by  indorsing  the  best  men  and  placing  those 
names  tmder  a  separate  heading  on  the  official  ballot.  This  was  a  result 
not  anticipated  by  the  politicians,  and  often  resulted  in  the  overthrow 
ot  the  best  laid  schemes  of  the  gangsters. 

This  poor  privilege  Avas  taken  from  the  electors  of  Ohio  by  the  Dana 
law,  passed  in  189G.    It  has  now  become  almost  impossible,  except  by 


32  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

fusion,  which  is  a  poor,  temporary  expedient,  to  give  expression  to  public 
opinion  at  an  election. 

But  public  opinion  is  manifesting  itself.  The  most  enlightened  pub- 
lic opinion  finds  expression  in  the  worli  of  the  new  Ohio  Municipal  Code. 
'J  his  has  been  explained  to  you.  Its  four  cardinal  principles  of  home 
rule,  the  separation  of  executive  and  legislative  functions,  the  merit 
system  and  a  non-partisan  ballot,  means  that  there  has  been  formed  a 
public  opinion  on  municipal  government,  and  that  an  opportunity  will 
be  afforded  the  people  of  Ohio  to  give  expression  to  that  public  opinion. 
It  now  rests  with  the  people  of  Ohio  to  see  that  the  General  Assem- 
bly which  has  just  been  elected  enacts  this  most  excellent  bill  into  a 
law.  If  they  do  not.  the  good  work  must  go  on,  and  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentative pledged  to  its  enactment  elected  in  the  future. 

The  Chair;  The  subject  is  now  open  to  general  discussion  for  a  few 
minutes. 

Ml-.  F.  W.  McKee,  Pittsburg,  Pa.:  In  regard  to  the  matter  of  public 
opinion,  the  fact  that  all  our  great  American  cities  are  composite  in 
population,  are  composed  of  a  mixture  of  people  of  various  nationalities, 
has  much  to  do  with  our  present  difficulties.  The  matter  of  securing  an 
expression  of  public  sentiment  is  more  difficult  in  the  cities  of  the  United 
States  than  it  is  in  Great  Britain,  and  I  think  the  question  of  foreign  im- 
migration is  one  which  wo  can  sooner  cr  later  discuss  with  profit. 

Unquestionably,  the  fundamental  thing  in  all  our  cities  is  the  per- 
sonnel of  all  the  people.  If  we  do  not  have  good  people,  we  cannot  have 
good  government.  Some  of  the  best  people  in  my  own  town  are  of  foreign 
birth;  yet  it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  quality  of  immigration  into  thl.? 
country  is  steadily  deteriorating.  The  quality  now  is  greatly  below  that 
of  25  or  30  years  ago. 

I  think  it  wiU  be  well  to  discuss  this  subject  sooner  or  later  with  a 
view  to  petitioning  Congress  on  the  subject.  But  as  the  time  is  late,  I 
will  not  go  into  the  subject  of  the  mixture  of  population  and  its  effect 
on  public  opinion. 

Mr.  Sikes:  I  would  like  to  refer  briefly  to  Chicago's  experience  with 
its  Council.  You  may  not  know  that  last  spring  it  was  operating  upon  a 
non-partisan  basis.  It  was  regarded  a  great  achievement.  I  suppose  a 
half  dozen  years  ago  we  had  the  worst  City  Council  in  the  country;  at 
iLis  time  it  is  as  good  as  any  large  city  in  the  countiy  and  I  wouldn't 
wonder  if  it  were  the  best. 

Conditions  were  very  bad  and  there  was  general  pessimism  regard- 
ing the  City  Council.  The  franchise-seeking  corporations  were  getting 
everything  they  wanted.  They  could  get  a  two-thirds  vote,  over-riding 
the  Mayor  any  time.  The  Municipal  Voters'  League  then  started  out 
to  improve  the  Council  on  non-partisan  lines.  There  was  some  discour- 
agement at  first,  but  some  good  results.  The  franchise-seeking  element 
had  more  faith  than  we;  they  went  to  Springfield  to  get  what  they 
wanted  from  the  Legislature,  and  presented  a  bill  to  the  Legislature  for 
a  fifty-years"  extension.    Sucn  an  outcry  was  raised  that  this  was  de- 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


33 


feated  ou  the  grourid  of  "home  rule."  So  they  proceeded  to  give  us  an 
overdose  of  "home  mle"  and  provided  that  the  Council  might  give  a 
lifty-years'  extension,  which  it  could  not  do  before— they  could  extend  it 
to  existing  companies,  but  not  to  new  ones.  That  was  not  wholly  "home 
rule."  But  we  got  enough  in  the  next  Council,  with  the  help  of  the 
Mayor,  to  prevent  action.  The  next  Council  was  organized  on  non- 
partisan lines,  but  the  gang  lines  appeared.  The  Democrats  were  in  the 
majority,  but  there  were  enough  good  Democrats,  who  would  not  go  into 
the  caucus,  to  prevent  the  Democrats  from  organizing  the  Coimcil;  but 
they  finally  organized  with  the  help  of  the  gang  Republicans. 

As  a  result  of  the  last  election  the  Council  is  organized  on  non-par- 
tisan lines  and  there  is  no  bad  legislation  going  through  now,  but  a  large 
amount  of  constnictive  legislation  has  been  undertaken. 

We  have  one  cause  for  apprehension  (and  I  refer  to  it  here  because 
the  League  has  proposed  a  proper  remedy  for  that)  the  non-partisan 
ballot.  The  Legislature  passed  a  non-partisan  election  law.  Undoubt- 
edly good  has  resulted  from  it,  but  I  am  afraid  in  the  long  run  it  will 
rot  be  beneficial,  because  we  had  the  people  so  voting  the  independent 
ticket  they  would  vote  for  the  best  man,  and  the  independent  candidate 
for  Alderman  and  the  independent  candidate  for  Mayor  ran  second.  But 
under  the  primary  law  it  is  thought  advisable  to  affiliate  with  one 
party  or  another.  It  seemed  the  only  way  to  accomplish  anything;  but  I 
bave  fears  as  to  the  outcome.  The  primary  system  forces  us  back  into 
the  parties  for  action. 

The  Chair:  Unless  some  gentleman  desires  to  engage  the  attention 
ol  the  Convention,  I  will  entertain  a  motion  to  adjourn.  The  Board  of 
Trade  of  Columbus  is  to  entertain  us  at  a  banquet  this  evening  to  which 
aU  invited.  The  gentlemen  are  expected  in  the  parlor  at  eight-thirty 
with  the  ladies  to  meet  our  entertainers,  and  the  banquet  will  begin  as 
soon  after  as  practicable. 

On  motion,  the  Conference  adjourned  until  10.30  A.  M.  Friday. 


FIFTH  SESSION. 

Friday,  November  17.  1899,  10.30  A.  M. 

President  Carter  in  the  Chair. 

The  Chair:  We  will  come  to  order  now. 

We  are  on  the  subject  of  municipal  accounting  this  morning,  the  first 
paper  being  "Public  Accounting  Under  the  Proposed  Municipal  Pro- 
gram," by  Prof.  L.  S.  Rowe,  University  of  Pennsylvania, 

Dr.  Howe  then  read  his  paper,  entitled  "Municipal  Accounting  Under 
the  Proposed  Municipal  Program."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  The  next  business  in  order  is  the  reading  of  a  paper  ou 
"The  Financial  Reports  of  Municipalities,  With  Special  Reference  to  the 
Requirement  of  Uniformity,"  by  Dr.  E.  W.  Hartwell,  Secretary,  Boston 
Municipal  Statistical  Commission. 


34  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

Dr.  Hai-twell  then  read  his  paper  entitled  "The  Financial  Reports  of 
Municipalities."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  The  next  is  a  paper  by  Dr.  Samuel  F.  Sparling,  Secretary, 
Wisconsin  League  of  Municipalities,  entitled  "The  Financial  Reports  of 
Municipalities." 

Dr.  Sparling  then  read  his  paper,  entitled  "The  Financial  Reports  of 
Municipalities."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  Mr,  Guthrie  will  read  the  paper  prepared  by  Mr.  A.  L. 
Crosby,  of  Cleveland,  entitled  "The  Financial  Control  Over  Receipts  and 
Expenditures." 

Mr.  Guthrie  then  read  Mr.  Crosby's  paper,  entitled  "The  Financial 
Control  Over  Receipts  and  Expenditures."    (See  Appendix.) 

The  Chair:  The  next  paper,  "The  Accounts  of  Municipal  Industrial 
Enterpi*ises,"  by  Prof.  C.  W.  Toolie,  of  the  University  of  Illinois,  will  be 
read  by  reason  in  his  absense  by  Mr.  Charles  Richardson. 

Mr.  Richardson  then  read  Professor  Tooke's  paper,  entitled  "The 
Accounts  of  Municipal  Industrial  Enterprises."    (See  Appendix.) 

Dr.  Goodnow:  Inasmuch  as  the  hour  is  late  and  the  paper  is  to  be 
published,  as  much  as  we  regret  the  necessity,  I  move  that  the  paper  of 
Mr.  Walter  S.  Allen  be  read  by  title  and  published. 

This  motion  was  duly  seconded  and  carried. 

The  paper  of  Mr.  AUen  on  "The  Accounts  of  Grantees  of  Franchises" 
will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

Dr.  Goodnow:  I  am  requested  to  announce  that  the  members  of  the 
Committee  on  Municipal  Program  will  remain  here  after  adjournment 
for  a  brief  meeting. 

The  Secretai'y:  The  Executive  Committee  meeting  will  not  be  held 
until  4  o'clock  this  afternoon. 

The  Chair:  We  will  now  take  a  recess  until  2.30  P.  M. 


SIXTH  SESSION. 

Friday,  November  17.  1899.  2.30  P.  M. 

Directly  after  the  meeting  had  been  called  to  order  by  President  Car- 
ter, Mr.  Thresher,  of  Dayton,  asked  the  privilege  of  the  floor. 

Mr.  Thresher:  Before  pi'oceeding  with  the  regular  order  of  the  after- 
noon, as  I  am  obliged  to  return  home  in  a  few  moments,  I  beg  the  privi- 
lege of  expressing,  on  behalf  of  my  associates  of  the  State  Board  of  Com- 
merce, our  very  high  appreciation  of  the  meetings  of  the  National  Muni- 
cipal Deague  and  our  thankfulness  that  you  have  come  to  the  city  of 
Columbus  and  the  State  of  Ohio  at  this  particular  time. 

We  feel  also  honored  in  the  fact  that  you,  Mr.  President,  and  the 
Secretai-y  and  Treasurer  and  these  distinguished  men  have  been  able  and 
•willing  to  leave  your  duties  and  come  to  this  place  at  such  a  time. 

I  could  wish  the  numbers  in  attendance  had  been  larger,  but  aifter 
all  this  is  a  work  not  to  be  judged  by  numbers.    It  is  the  single  grain  of 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  35 

wheat  that  is  the  source  of  every  stalk  of  golden  grain.  And  it  is  from 
the  thoughtful  actions  of  these  men  of  discernment,  patriotism  and  lib- 
erality, who  possess  the  power  to  command  the  genius  of  organization, 
that  great  good  shall  come.  It  is  a  vei*y  slender  point  about  which  the 
beautiful  diamond  crystallizes;  when  the  matter  is  in  solution  at  the 
proper  time  it  is  there,  and  the  priceless  gem  results.  And  so,  from  the 
laborious  study  and  thoughtful  exertion  of  these  gentlemen  in  the  quie- 
tude of  their  studies  and  in  slimly  attended  meetings,  will  come  that  mag- 
nificent fabric  of  gOA^ernment,  of  prosperity  and  of  happiness  which  the 
whole  world  shall  see  and  in  which  every  good  American  shall  rejoice. 

Permit  me,  sir,  on  behalf  of  my  associates,  to  thank  you  most 
heartily,  ajid  to  express  our  very  high  appreciation  of  your  coming  and 
the  results  of  your  labors. 

The  Chair:  The  Chair  will  express  the  satisfaction  of  the  League  at 
Ibis  sentiment  expressed  by  the  representative  of  the  Board  of  Com- 
merce of  Ohio.  It  is  particularly  agreeable  to  the  League  that  bodies 
like  that  are  attracted  to  our  labor. 

Mr.  Richardson:  I  move  we  vote  our  thanks  to  the  ladies  and  gentle- 
men of  Columbus  who  have  done  so  much  to  entertain  us  and  who  have 
received  us  with  such  welcome  and  encouraging  greetings. 

This  motion,  duly  seconded,  was  unanimously  carried. 

The  Chair:  On  behalf  of  the  League  I  will  add  to  this  vote  the  ex- 
pression of  the  gratitude  we  feel  to  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  Columbus 
for  their  efforts  in  our  behalf.  Much  of  the  satisfaction  of  our  meetings, 
of  course,  depends  upon  the  spirit  with  which  we  are  received  by  the 
mhabitants  of  the  place  where  we  visit.  I  am  sure  we  shall  remember 
the  efforts  of  the  citizens  of  Columbus  with  great  satisraction. 

Our  business  of  the  afternoon,  as  I  see  by  the  program,  will  consist 
of  a  discussion  of  the  various  papers  which  have  been  presented  here 
and  will  be  brought  to  an  end  at  4  o'clock,  when  a  vote  will  be  taken  on 
the  adoption  of  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Municipal  Program. 

Mr.  Low:  There  are  one  or  two  details  I  would  like  to  call  attention 
to,  though  I  feel  that  the  Report  should  be  adopted  as  a  whole  and  prob- 
ably referred  back  to  the  Committee.  But  I  feel  that  attention  should 
be  called,  as  I  said,  to  one  or  two  details,  especially  as  1  am  under  obliga- 
tion to  Mr.  Foulke  to  do  so,  he  having  had  to  return  to  Indiana  before  he 
meeting  closed.  One  in  regard  to  the  issuing  of  bonds.  There  should  be 
added,  it  would  be  conservative  and  wise  to  provide,  that  there  should 
not  simply  be  a  majority  vote  on  the  question,  but  at  least  a  two-thirds 
vote  to  carry  the  proposition. 

Then,  regarding  the  election  of  members  of  Council.  Mr.  Foulke 
thinks— and  I  agree  with  him— that  this  provision  takes  the  Council  too 
far  away  from  the  expression  of  public  opinion,  something  like  the 
condition  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  with  reference  to  the  people 
to-day,  which  to  some  people  seems  unfortunate— especially  as  this 
Council  is  not  to  be  administrative  but  to  be  legislative.  It  seems  that 
it  should  be  in  closer  touch  with  public  sentiment  and  moi'e  immediately 


36  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


responsible  to  the  people.  If  it  would  not  be  possible  to  elect  one-third 
every  year,  it  seems  that  it  would  be  better  to  elect  them  all  at  one  time, 
once  in  two  years.  And  it  seems  a  reinforcement  of  that  argument  lies  in 
in  the  fact  that  the  council  is  to  elect  the  City  Controller.  I  think  there 
is  reason  to  question  the  election  of  the  Controller  by  that  body  rather 
than  by  the  people;  but  if  that  is  to  be,  it  seems  that  the  Council  should  be 
as  responsive  to  public  opinion  as  possible.  I  suppose  the  reason  for 
having  the  Controller  elected  by  the  Council  rather  than  by  the  people 
is  to  diminish  the  number  of  officers  to  be  elected  by  the  people.  I 
thinli  there  is  a  grave  chance  to  question  the  wisdom  of  that  provision, 
but  if  it  is  to  stand,  I  would  use  it  as  an  argument  against  making  the 
Council  so  permanent  a  body  as  provided  in  this  scheme. 

I  think  the  committee  has  got  to  settle  these  things  finally,  and  I 
shall  be  ready  to  move  that  full  power  shall  be  given  the  Committee  to  go 
over  the  suggestions  and  change  the  provisions  in  accordance  therewitli 
as  they  may  think  best. 

Mr.  Butler:  I  do  not  rise  to  take  issue.  1  am  not  competent  to  do  that, 
but  I  would  like  to  make  reference  to  conditions  in  Milwaukee  as  throw- 
ing some  possible  light  on  the  suggestion  made  by  Mr.  Low,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  effect  of  public  opinion  on  the  Council.  Our  Council  is  elected 
every  two  years  by  the  people,  and  I  never  knew  a  body  so  indifferent  to 
public  opinion  in  my  life.  So  some  of  us  think  that  if  the  term  of  some 
could  be  extended,  so  that  the  people  would  thinlv  their  interests  were 
jeopardized  in  a  greater  degree,  they  would  take  more  care  in  the  selec- 
tion. When  an  Alderman  turned  out  bad,  they  would  learn  a  lesson  and 
certainly  take  greater  care  in  the  future. 

Of  course,  the  election  of  Council  in  thirds  is  a  theoretical  view.  The 
people  might  take  a  little  different  view  of  it.  The  argument  in 
favor  of  it  would  be  a  continuity  of  the  policy  of  the  city  govern- 
nienft  and  continuity  in  office  of  men  of  skilled  capacity.  It  strikes  me 
this  would  be  more  possible  if  the  Council  is  elected  in  the  way  suggested 
in  the  Program.  I  only  wish  to  excite  thought  by  other  people  on  the 
subject  rather  than  to  express  my  own  opinion,  however. 

Mr.  Carter:  I  have  asked  Mr.  Richardson  to  take  the  chair  for  a 
moment  for  the  purpose  of  expressing  one  or  two  thoughts  which  have 
come  to  me  in  consequence  of  my  perusal  of  the  Municipal  Program  and 
listening  to  the  various  papers  which  have  been  read.  One  of  those  is  in 
relation  to  the  true  source  of  the  mischief  or  the  evil  which  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  most  of  our  municipal  misgovernment. 

I  think  I  can  observe  in  the  Municipal  Program  and  in  the  papers 
which  accompany  it  a  disposition  to  depreciate  to  a  certain  extent  that 
degree  of  emphasis  which  the  League  has  hitherto  placed  upon  the  notion 
that  the  interference  of  political  parties  in  municipal  affairs  was  the 
principal  source  of  our  trouble. 

Certainly,  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  League,  and  djuring 
the  first  meetings,  that  feeling  was  evei^where  prominent,  was  ex- 
pressed by  gentlemen  from  every  part  of  the  country,  and  I  supposed 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  37 

there  was  entire  concurrence  in  it,  that  it  was  the  main  source  of  the  evil. 

It  is  said  in  one  of  the  papers  which  have  been  printed  and  offered  in 
connection  wnth  the  Program,  that  it  must  be  admitted  that  effort-^ 
which  have  been  made  to  talie  municipal  affairs  out  of  the  domain  of 
political  parties  have  not  met  with  a  very  encouraging  degree  of  success: 
and  it  is  left  by  Implication,  as  It  were,  to  be  infen-ed  that  our  efforts  had 
better  be  expended  in  other  directions  and  would  be  comparatively  fruit- 
less if  continued  in  that  direction. 

Now,  at  that  point  I  wish  to  add  an  observation  or  two  because  I  am 
not  quite  convinced  of  that.  We  must  consider  what  the  real  source  of 
the  mischief  is,  that  lies  at  the  foundation  of  our  business.  It  is  not  lack 
of  intelligence  on  the  part  of  the  community;  it  is  not  the  lack  of  a  dis- 
position to  have  good  municipal  government.  It  is  In  consequence  of 
something  else;  and  I  still  think  that  if  we  look  at  the  phenomena  which 
the  history  of  every  city  of  the  country  shows,  we  will  find  that  wherever 
there  is  misgovernment,  wherever  there  is  waste,  wherever  there  is 
fraudulent  embezzlement— there  you  will  find  the  politician  seeking  to 
control  municipal  fortunes  for  the  sake  of  his  own  emolument,  or  for 
the  sake  of  advancing  the  fortunes  of  some  political  party.  In  other 
words,  there  has  not  been  good  municipal  government,  but  something 
else.  And,  of  course,  unless  we  make  the  attainment  of  good  municipal 
government  the  only  object  of  those  engaged  in  carrying  out  the  various 
fnnctious  of  the  administration  of  city  affairs,  that  object  will  not  be 
attained. 

I  agree  that  the  results  which  have  attended  the  efforts  to  remove 
municipal  affairs  from  the  domain  of  politics  have  certalmy  not  been 
as  successful  as  we  desire.  But  has  it  met  with  as  much  success  as  we 
could  expect?  That's  the  point.  If  that  is  the  real  source  of  the  mis- 
chief, the  fact  that  efforts  so  far  made  have  not  met  with  success  argues 
feeble  efforts  or  Inherent  difficulty  of  the  work.  I  still  think,  without 
diminishing  the  efforts  in  other  lines,  such  as  securing  a  good  form  of 
charter  and  proper  distribution  of  municipal  powers  to  be  embodied  in 
the  Constitutions  of  the  States,  and  I  commend  it  to  the  attention  of  the 
Committee  accomplishing  this  work— I  think  we  will  make  a  great 
oiror  if  we  forget  or  omit  to  see  that  the  great  principal  source  of  the 
evils  against  which  we  contend  is  the  determined  efforts  made  by  botli 
political  parties  to  use  the  domain  of  municipal  administration. 

Now,  nothing,  I  suppose,  is  more  true  than  that  municipal  administra- 
tion has  nothing  to  do  with  tlie  ordinary  work  or  ordinary  business  of 
great  political  parties.  They  are  in  a  field  which  does  not  concern  them: 
and  while  I  am  a  firm  believer  in  the  existence  of  political  parties  and 
at  times  a  strong  partisan  myself,  I  am  thoroughly  of  the  opinion  that 
all  efforts  should  be  made  to  confine  them  to  their  true  province  which 
does  not  embi'ace  municipal  administration;  and  it  should  be  our  en- 
deavor to  exclude  political  parties  from  the  control  of  affairs  of  cities 
anJ  we  should  never  encroach  upon  their  domain  by  taking  under  our 


38  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


administration  any  questions  or  issues  which  properly  belong  to  the 
political  parties. 

Now,  our  success,  I  think  we  must  admit,  in  striving:  against  the 
efforts  of  political  leaders  has  been  but  moderate;  but  the  true  inference 
is  that  the  work  is  laborious.  Our  successful  steps  have  been  slow  and 
far  between,  but  it  follows  from  that,  not  that  we  should  discontinue 
those  efforts,  but  continue  them  with  redoubled  energy. 

I  look  forwai'd  to  the  day— and  with  confidence— to  the  day  when 
municipal  elections  will  be  separated  from  the  elections  which  concern 
State  and  national  policy,  and  interest  will  be  aroused  and  concentrated 
npon  the  interests  of  the  municipality  alone,  and  to  such  extent  party 
lines  will  be  substantially  broken  and  independent  candidates  be  brought 
forward  and  sought  to  be  elected  solely  upon  the  merits  of  city  issues. 
And  until  that  time  comes,  until  we  can  rescue  municipal  affairs  and 
the  control  of  municipal  affairs  from  party  domination  which  has  no 
connection  with  them  and  no  business  to  control  them— until  that  is 
effected  our  work  is  left  substantially  incomplete. 

In  mentioning  that  I  do  not  wish  to  make  any  suggestion  as  to  the 
completeness  or  incompleteness  of  the  work  laid  before  us,  but  to  im- 
press upon  the  gentlemen  the  necessity  of  considering  the  true  source  of 
ihe  evil,  and  if  it  be  the  connection  of  political  parties  with  our  affairs, 
to  continue  our  efforts  to  prevent  that  interference,  to  rescue  city  affairs 
from  party  control,  to  be  willing,  all  of  us,  to  instantly  leave  our  party 
uiK)n  such  issues  and  to  persuade  others  to  do  the  same. 

The  other  thought  is  this.  I  am  a  believer  in  home  rule  and  concur 
;n  the  enthusiastic,  almost  the  fanatical  devotion  which  our  friend,  Mr. 
Doming,  has  in  favor  of  democratic  principles  in  the  administration  of 
cities.  I  am  a  believer  in  its  wisdom,  and  I  think,  too.  that  should  be 
generally  and  at  the  present  time  adopted.  Still,  there  is  a  limit  beyond 
which  we  should  not  go  even  there,  and  it  is  well  to  know  and  to  recog- 
nize what  that  limit  is. 

The  right  to  control  city  affairs,  the  right  to  control  the  affairs  of  a 
locality,  we  must  remember,  does  not  belong  originally  and  of  right  to 
the  citizens  of  that  locality;  it  is  not  a  primary  possession  of  theirs;  it 
is  not  a  heaven-born  right  to  control  your  own  affairs — it  is  the  right,  the 
duty  of  the  State.  The  State  government  has  the  sovereignty  over  the 
whole  and  the  sovtitignty  iu  eacli  particular  point  of  the  domain  which 
it  covers;  and  as  a  consequence  of  that  sovereignty,  that  duty  of  govern- 
ing not  only  the  whole  as  a  whole,  but  each  and  every  particular  part,  is 
a  duty  of  the  State  at  large.  It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  represent  one 
prat  of  the  great  State  of  Ohio  to  control  every  other  part  and  to  be  inter 
osted  in  the  affairs  of  a  locality  situated  in  another,  in  some  remote  part 
of  it. 

What  is  it  the  principle  of  home  rule  rests  upon?  Not  the  principle 
of  right,  but  the  principle  of  expediency  only.  It  has  been  found  by 
experience  and  confirmed  by  reason  that  the  management  of  the  affairs 
of  a  locality  can  be  better  carried  on  by  entrusting  it  to  the  people  of  the 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  39 


locality  than  in  the  hands  of  the  State  at  large.  Reason  tells  us,  of 
course,  that  those  representatives  in  the  State  Legislature— take,  for  in- 
stance, in  New  York— the  representatives  from  the  city  of  Buffalo  have 
little  knowledge  or  concern  for  the  affairs  of  New  York.  They  do  not 
have  the  requisite  knowledge  or  interest  either.  Both  are  necessary  to 
qualify  a  person  to  control  its  affairs.  Legislators  must  have  knowledge 
of  the  circumstances  upon  which  they  are  called  to  take  action  and  must 
feel  a  vital  interest  in  the  particular  Commonwealth  which  they  under- 
take to  affect  by  legislation. 

Those  two  requirements  cannot  be  found  in  the  representatives 
from  the  State  at  large,  so  far  as  the  locality  is  concerned.  This  has 
taught  us  the  wisdom  of  committing  the  management  of  purely  local 
affairs  to  the  people  of  the  locality.  The  city,  town,  county  and  school 
district  are  subordinate  governmental  agents  on  the  part  of  the  State, 
assigned  to  discharge  a  particular  duty  and  trust  which  formerly  de- 
volved upon  the  State,  for  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  that  agent  will 
perform  the  task  more  efficiently.  If  not— and  it  is  conceivable  that  an 
agent  might  not  be  fit  for  the  work— he  should  not  perform  it.  The  prin- 
cipal must  then  step  in  and  do  it  himself,  however  indifferently  qualified 
to  do  it.  Therefore,  we  must  recognize  the  fact  that  if  a  locality,  a  city 
or  other  corporation,  exhibits  itself  as  unfit  to  perform  the  task  assigned 
to  it.  the  interference  of  the  Legislature  becomes  necessary  and  proper, 
and  I  think  that  is  the  only  ease  where  it  is. 

These  two  suggestions,  gentlemen,  I  have  felt  called  upon  to  make. 
I  submit  them  to  your  judgment  for  what  they  are  worth.  They  do  not 
call  upon  me  to  make  any  motion  in  relation  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
League. 

Allen  W.  Thurman,  Esq.,  Columbus,  Ohio:  Although  not  a  member  of 
the  National  Municipal  League,  yet  being  informed  by  your  Secretary 
that  the  discussion  this  afternoon  would  be  a  general  one,  and  that  any 
one  might  talk  who  was  interested  in  the  subject,  is  my  excuse  for  arising 
to  speak. 

I  have  been  not  only  extremely  interested  but  much  instructed  by  the 
papers  I  have  heard  read  at  your  different  sessions,  and  certainly  no  one 
desires  that  success  and  advancement  in  the  cause  should  come  from  them 
more  than  I  do,  and  if  I  have  a  weaker  faith  than  some  of  you.  it  may 
come  from  an  experience,  extending  over  quite  a  number  of  years,  in 
investigating  these  matters. 

Some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  the  subject  of  municipal  reform  was 
greatly  agitated  in  the  city  of  Columbus.  It  was  taken  up  by  the  Colum- 
bus Board  of  Trade,  and  meetings  were  held  every  month,  which  were 
attended  by  nearly  every  one  who  was  a  member  of  that  body.  Commit- 
tees were  appointed  to  investigate  the  whole  subject  and  to  report  the 
conditions  of  affairs,  not  only  in  our  own  city,  but  in  a  general  way.  I 
am  glad  to  know  that  the  result  of  that  work  and  those  labors  brought 
us  exactly  to  the  same  conclusions  as  those  arrived  at  by  nie  Committee 
of  this  League. 


40  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


A  complete  and  thorough  investigation  of  the  whole  subject  showed 
conclusively  to  the  committee  appointed  by  our  Board,  the  utter  impossi- 
bility of  securing  permanent  good  government  for  the  cities  of  Ohio, 
when  at  every  session  of  the  Legislature  it  could  step  in  and  interfere 
with  them.  Unfortunately,  under  our  Constitution  it  is  impossible,  un- 
less the  charter  expressly  and  specifically  states  what  may  be  done,  that 
cities  cannot  act.  Realizing  this,  we  therefore  said  that  the  only  solution 
of  these  difficulties  was  to  amend  the  Constitution,  and  such  an  amend- 
ment was  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Henry  C.  Noble,  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in 
Columbus.  It  was  submitted  to  and  approved  by  the  Board  of  Trade, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  present  it  to  the  Legislature.  The 
work  done  by  that  committee  lasted  over  two  years.  They  examined 
every  charter  in  the  United  States  they  could  get  hold  or,  and  yet  all  of 
that  work,  when  we  came  to  ask  for  it  to  give  to  the  Municipal  Code 
Commission  last  winter,  could  nowhere  be  found.  In  the  changing  of 
administrations  and  offices  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  it  had  been  consigned 
to  the  cellar,  and  there  it  would  have  remained  had  it  not  been  discovered 
by  accident. 

Notwithstanding  that  we  thus  went  farther  than  any  other  city,  the 
people  of  Columbus,  from  that  time  to  this,  have  seemed  to  care  little  or 
nothing  about  the  subject.    All  this  is  not  veiT  encouraging. 

If  you  want  to  attain  permanent  municipal  reform,  you  must  begin  at 
the  beginning.  We  hear  of  home  rule,  but  how  is  it  to  be  secured?  Now. 
the  theory  of  our  government  is,  that  the  people  are  sovereign;  but  are 
they  so?  Theoretically,  they  are;  but  in  reality  they  are  only  so  upon 
days  of  election,  for  on  those  days  they  delegate  all  of  their  powers  away 
to  their  servants.  This  being  so.  is  it  not  clear  then,  that  the  only  way 
the  people  can  exercise  their  sovereignty  is  first  to  be  able  to  say  who 
shall  administer  their  affairs?  And  to  say  who  shall  hold  office,  they 
must  first  be  able  to  name  the  candidate  for  office.  This  is  the  beginning, 
and  the  only  way  it  can  be  done  is  by  some  kind  of  a  compulsory  primary 
election  law.  We  must  make  the  "good  citizen"  take  an  interest  in 
affairs,  and  if  he  will  not  do  it,  then  we  must  deprive  him  of  the  right  to 
interfere  or  meddle  with  it  in  any  way. 

I  believe  that  there  should  be  such  a  primary  election  law,  and  that 
it  should  be  surrounded  with  all  the  safeguards  of  a  general  election  law. 
Expense  should  not  be  taken  into  account.  Every  safeguard  that  is 
thrown  around  the  general  election,  should  be  thrown  around  the  pri- 
mary; and  the  man  who  refuses  to  vote  at  the  primary  election  should 
be  deprived  of  the  right  to  vote  at  the  general  election.  Do  that,  and 
then  you  may  make  this  "good  citizen"  take  an  interest  in  the  affairs  of 
his  country.    I  say  may,  because  there  is  no  certainty  that  he  will. 

Another  thing  you  must  do  (and  this  is  one  of  the  greatest  reasons 
why  I  am  so  skeptical  about  any  reform  that  may  come  about  in  our 
time),  is  that  you  have  got  to  begin  by  reforming  the  reformer.  I  do  not 
mean  by  that,  such  gentlemen  as  you,  who  have  given  your  time  and  best 
thought  and  study  to  this  work;  but  I  mean  the  fraudulent  municipal 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  4 1 


reformer,  who  walks  the  streets  and  abuses  the  politicians  or  any  one 
who  holds  office,  saying:  "I  don't  dare  touch  his  garment  for  fear  I  may 
be  soiled!" 

At  every  municipal  convention  I  have  ever  attended,  I  have  heard 
abuse  hurled  at  the  politicians.  They  are  charged  with  all  the  fraud  and 
all  the  evil  in  government,  and  especially  municipal  government.  The 
"boss"  is  damned  and  the  "ring"  is  damned,  but  why  not  damn  the  right 
thing?  Why,  the  "boss"  and  the  "ring"  are  simply  the  products  of  the 
briber.  They  are  the  children  of  your  ordinarily  "good  citizen,"  who 
liaradfs  himself  as  an  honest  business  man.  I  suppose  you  go  on  the 
theory  "spare  the  rod  and  spoil  the  child."  That  may  be,  but  in  this 
case  you  would  better  take  a  club  to  the  "old  man."  Do  you  need  proof 
of  it?  Why,  it  was  only  a  short  time  ago,  that  a  company  in  the  city  of 
Columbus  was  granted  a  franchise  by  the  City  Council.  It  Is  common 
talk,  and  by  those  who  profess  to  know,  how  that  franchise  was  obtained. 
Even  the  amount  of  money  paid  has  been  specified.  The  men  who  are 
said  to  be  interested  in  this  coiToration  are  members  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  and  are  among  the  best  citizens.  They  go  to  church  and  hltcii 
tiieir  horses  on  the  outside  where  everybody  can  see  them  every  Sunday. 
There  is  not  one  of  them  who  would  go  and  deliberately  oCCer  a  Council- 
man a  bribe.  They  are  too  cowardly  to  do  this,  but  they  will  hide  them- 
selves behind  that  corporation  whose  employes  immediately  seek  out 
the  "boss,"  if  there  is  one,  to  manipulate  afEaars  for  them.  These  gentle- 
men simply  enjoy  the  usufruct.  Why  not,  then,  tell  them  what  they  are'> 
Why  not  call  them  by  their  right  names,  just  the  same  as  you  call  the 
political  boss  and  the  political  ring  by  their  right  names?  Go  to  work 
and  reform  these  gentlemen;  make  it  so  that  if  any  business  man  thinks 
so  little  of  the  institutions  of  his  country  that  for  the  sake  of  greed  he 
will  offer  bribes  and  debauch  public  servants,  you  will  cast  him  out. 

Will  you  do  it?  No.  You  will  not  do  it,  and  I  will  not  do  it.  Why? 
Because  every  day  we  meet  them;  they  are  good  fellows;  they  belong  to 
our  crowd;  they  have  some  influence  somewhere;  they  attend  church 
cegularly— they  are  gentlemen!  And  every  one  of  us  will  put  out  the 
"glad  hand"  when  we  meet  them,  and  are  glad  to  associate  with  them; 
while  we  pass  by  the  poor,  little  politician  on  the  other  side,  and  say, 
"Oh,  I  am  holier  than  thou!" 

Another  thing,  if  you  don't  believe  all  this,  take  a  hand  some  time 
in  practical  politics  and  you  will  learn  it;  for  there  is  hardly  a  px-imary 
election  held  in  any  city  in  this  Union  for  members  of  the  Council  cr 
other  municipal  offices,  Avhere  you  will  not  find  these  same  pious  gentle- 
men, through  the  political  machines  of  both  parties,  endeavoring  to  have 
selected  as  candidates  only  such  men  as  they  know  can  be  used.  I  have 
known  this  to  happen  in  the  city  of  Columbus,  I  cannot  say  how  many 
times,  and  it  will  continue  to  happen  until  you  drive  this  man,  this  briber, 
this  gentlemanly  source  of  evil  out  of  the  problem. 

Now,  I  don't  think  you  can  do  it.  For  the  greatest  of  all  the  trouble.^, 
my  friends,  which  confront  us  in  considering  these  problems,  is  the  fact 


42  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

that  there  has  grown  among  our  people  such  a  desire  to  rapidly  acquire 
wealth,  that  those  in  pursuit  of  it,  by  the  dishonest  means  they  have  used 
lo  secure  it,  have  to  a  large  extent  corrupted  the  who'.e  people.  These 
unscrupulous  men  have  not  hesitated  for  a  moment  to  consider  the  evils 
which  they  are  inflicting  upon  their  country.  In  their  greed  they  have 
debauched  our  Councils,  our  Legislatures,  our  Executives,  and  have  not 
even  spared  our  Judiciary.  They  have  let  nothing  stand  in  their  way 
which  money  could  displace.  Not  only  knowingly  and  willingly  have 
they  violated  the  laws  which  have  been  enacted  for  the  benefit  of  the 
public,  but  they  have  violated  in  a  thousand  cases  the  justice  and  right 
of  everything.  And  this  has  been  done  so  often,  and  with  such  impunity, 
and  has  been  so  successful  that  it  has  demoralized  eveiy  branch  of  in- 
dustry. Why,  the  people  now  look  with  perfect  complacency  upon 
actions  at  which  twenty-five  years  ago  they  would  have  stood  aghast. 

When  I  hear  of  such  men  engaging  in  this  kind  of  nefarious  business, 
and  at  the  same  time  denouncing  some  poor,  little  official,  and  also 
speaking-  derisively  of  our  laws,  our  institutions  and  our  people,  whom 
they  have  done  so  much  to  debase,  it  makes  my  blood  boli,  and  I  some- 
times w^onder  if  there  is  any  God  in  Israel! 

The  Chair:  These  views  are  extremely  interesting,  but  the  proposi- 
tion is  to  consider  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Municipal  Program. 
It  is  the  discussion  of  the  features  of  that  to  which  this  meeting  is  more 
particularly  assigned. 

Mr.  Thurman :  I  was  coming  to  that,  and  will  be  as  brief  as  possible. 

I  think  the  Report  should  be  adopted,  because  undoubtedly  it  is  a 
step  in  the  right  direction;  but  this  League  should  go  further.  It  should 
urge  the  necessity  of  a  compulsory  primary  election  law.  I  believe,  too. 
it  should  advocate  municipal  ownership,  for  only  by  teaching  the  people 
that  they  must  act  from  the  same  selfish  motives  which  individuals  do, 
can  we  hope  for  complete  success.  If  there  must  be  monopoly,  it  should 
be  public,  not  private,  monopoly.  This  is  the  only  true  road,  for  if  you 
wait,  expecting  to  reform  the  "honest  business  man,"  you  "will  wait 
until  the  current  of  time  flows  into  the  Ocean  of  Eternity." 

The  following  losolutions,  presented  by  Mr.  Allen  Ripley  Foote,  of 
Takoma  Park,  D.  C,  were  referred  without  discussion  to  the  Executive 
Committee: 

"Whereas,  The  National  Municipal  League  has  discussed  certain 
features  of  municipal  public  policy  relating  to  the  ownership  and  opera- 
tion of  public  service  industries,  and 

"Whereas,  Such  industries  must  necessarily  be  owned  and  opei-ated 
by  public  or  by  private  capital,  and,  in  either  case,  the  application  of  a 
definite  system  of  regulation  identical  in  all  of  its  details  for  both  public 
and  private  ownership  is  fundamentally  essential  to  promote  and  pro- 
tect the  welfare  of  users,  taxpayers,  employes  and  investors. 

"Be  it  Resolved,  First,  That  practical  civil  service  regulations,  strict- 
ly and  continuously  enforced,  in  the  case  of  public  ownership,  and  a 
.just  system  of  profit-sharing  in  the  case  of  private  ownership,  are  neces- 
sary provisions  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  employes,  and  to  insure 
efllcieut  economic  management  for  the  service  of  users  and  taxpayei's. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  43 


"Second.  That  a  sj^stem  of  accounting,  uniform  throughout  the  State, 
prescribed  and  audited  by  authority  of  a  general  State  law,  designed  to 
show  the  true  and  entire  cost  of  every  public  service  industry,  identical 
in  every  particular  for  public  and  private  ownership  and  operation,  is  an 
indispensable  condition  to  secure  intelligent  and  just  regulation. 

"Third.  That  a  general  State  law  should  specify  that  there  shall  be 
included  in  all  statements  of  costs,  used  as  a  basis  for  determining  prices 
to  users  and  taxpayers,  interest  on  the  investment  at  the  rate  paid  on  its 
bonded  debt  by  the  municipality  in  which  the  industry  is  located;  a 
sufficient  provision  for  insurance  against  loss  by  accidents  of  every 
liind;  the  amount  of  taxes  relinquished,  if  a  publicly  owned  industry, 
and  paid  if  a  privately  owned  industry;  an  ample  provision  for  insurance 
against  the  impairment  of  investment;  the  true  and  entire  costs  of  .all 
materials  used  and  salaries  and  wages  paid,  and  an  accurate  statement 
of  all  miscellaneous  expenses. 

"Fourth.  That  price  to  users  and  taxpayers  should  be  based  on  cost, 
plus  a  provision  for  the  payment  of  all  capital  secured  by  taxation  or  the 
sale  of  bonds,  in  case  of  all  publicly  owned,  and  cost  plus  a  legally  lim- 
ited profit  in  case  of  all  privately  owned  industries. 

"Fifth.    That  price  should  be  determined  for  periods  of  five  years. 

"Sixth.  That  all  services  rendered  to  private  and  public  usea-s  should 
be  valued  and  paid  for  at  prices  determined  as  specified  in  number  four. 
All  free  service  should  be  prohibited. 

"Seventh.  That  no  service  should  be  sold  for  less  than  its  cost  and 
no  discrimination  should  be  allowed  between  users  taking  service  under 
like  conditions. 

"Eighth.  That  the  divisible  profits  of  private  ownership  and  oper;'- 
tion  should  be  determined  and  limited  by  a  rate  upon  the  investment 
which  shall  be  equal  to  twice  the  rate  per  cent,  paid  on  its  bonded  debt 
by  the  municipality  in  which  the  industry  is  located,  in  all  cases  where 
costs  are  calculated  and  allowed,  as  specified  in  number  three. 

"Ninth.  That  all  profits  in  excess  of  the  legal  profit  should  be  divided 
equally  between  the  municipality  and  the  private  owners. 

"Tenth.  That  in  making  contracts  with  private  corporations  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  the  foregoing  regulations  into  effect,  the  initial  in- 
vestment used  as  the  basis  of  calculations  should  be  determined  by  pro- 
cess imder  the  law  of  eminent  domain,  or  by  arbitration,  as  may  be 
mutually  agreed  upon  betu'een  the  municipality  and  the  corporation. 

"Eleventh.  That  this  contract  should  provide  that  at  the  expiration 
of  every  period  of  five  years  the  municipality  shall  have  the  option  of 
paying  "to  the  corporation  the  full  amount  of  its  investment  and  there- 
upon taking  possession  of  the  property,  and  thereafter  operating  it  a.s  a 
municipal  industry,  and  in  case  this  is  not  done  that  the  prices  shall  be 
determined  for  another  period  of  five  years  and  the  contract  continue  m 
force  without  further  change." 

Mr.  Sikes:  I  want  to  say  a  word  in  regard  to  the  provision  relating 
to  bond  limitation.  I  am  fearful  that  in  opposing  that  which  I  regard 
as  a  feature  to  be  criticised,  that  we  may  go  to  another  extreme.  It  seems 
what  we  wjint  to  do  is  to  place  a  limitation  upon  the  possibility  of  the 
municipality  endangering  the  property  of  the  tax-payers  to  an  unlimited 
extent.  We  should  not  make  it  more  difficult  to  issue  bonus  within  or- 
dinary limitations. 

What  are  the  limitations?  First,  the  Mayor  has  an  absolute  veto; 
second,  a  two-thirds  vote  ot  Council  is  necessary  to  submrt  this  proposi- 
tion to  the  people;  then  it  takes  a  majority  of  those  voting  on  the  prop- 


44  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 

osition  to  carry  it.  It  seems  that  is  difficult  enough  to  issue  bonds 
under  ordinary  circ;;mstances.  Within  the  debt  limitation,  we  certainly 
should  not  make  it  more  difficult  than  that  to  issue  bonds.  But  when  we 
go  and  get  beyond  the  limitation  and  still  want  to  issue  more  bonds  in 
the  adoption  of  public  service  industries,  it  seems  then  the  special  limita- 
tions should  apply. 

Within  the  limitation,  we  should  not  make  the  proposition  to  issue 
bonds  more  difficult.  But  the  proposition  is  to  require  two-thirds  vote 
of  the  people,  no  matter  whether  the  bond  limitation  is  exceeded  or  not. 
It  seems  what  we  should  do  is  to  put  on  these  limitations  after  the  bond 
Issue  is  high,  and  not  malie  it  more  difficult  when  the  bond  issue  is  small. 

When  the  bond  limitation  has  not  been  reached  and  the  proposition  is 
made  to  issue  bonds  for  public  service  industry,  I  would  not  want  a  two- 
thirds  vote  of  the  people;  but  when  the  bond  issue  limit  has  been  reached, 
then  the  danger  is  too  great  and  the  restriction  should  apply. 

Mr.  Rossell:  In  respect  to  the  bond  limitation,  I  would  apprehend 
this  danger,  that  the  assessment  of  city  property  being  the  basis  of  tlie 
lx)nd  limit,  as  is  the  case  in  many  of  our  cities,  and  most  conspicuously 
so  far  as  I  recall,  in  the  city  of  Boston,  the  assessment  would  be  inflated 
in  order  that  the  limit  of  bond  issue  might  be  extended.  I  have  not 
examined  the  proposed  plan  sufficiently  to  be  able  to  say  whether  It  con- 
templates a  plan  of  assessment  that  wou'd  obviate  that  danger. 

I  assume  that  under  the  plan  it  would  be  entirely  competent  for  any 
city,  through  the  legislative  branch  of  its  government,  to  adopt  a  method 
of  assessment  whereby  as  nearly  as  might  be  practical,  equality  would 
prevail;  and  the  inequality  which  I  conceive  to  be  the  great  curse,  and 
tlie  injustice  imderlying  the  exercise  of  the  taxing  power  in  our  munic::- 
palities,  would  be  avoided. 

My  understanding  of  the  question  before  this  Conference  is  whether 
or  not  the  National  Municipal  League  will  adopt  as  a  declaration  of  its 
principles  with  respect  to  city  government,  and  as  a  tentative  plan  of 
city  organization,  the  admirable  Report  of  the  Committee.  The  matters 
ol  detail  we  would  differ  about  for  a  long  time;  but  as  to  the  great  under- 
lying principle  of  iiome  rule  for  our  cities,  I  can  scarcely  conceive  it 
possible  there  should  be  any  differences  between  us  about  that.  And  I 
have  thought  enough,  and  I  trust  seriously  enough,  about  this  problem  of 
a  better  urban  life,  to  believe,  and  believe  firmly,  that  the  only  way  that 
lasting  reform  can  be  brought  about  is  by  enti-usting  the  people  with  the 
confidence  of  the  State,  making  them  conscious  of  their  responsibility 
in  the  management  of  their  own  affairs,  and  trusting  that  in  a  better 
consciousness  and  a  truer  and  higher  conception  of  duty  and  of  patriot- 
ism which  will  be  reached  in  time,  and  in  .a  time  not  far  distant,  that 
our  highest  ideals  of  city  life  will  be  realized. 

I  am,  therefore,  in  favor  of  adopting  as  a  declaration  or  the  principles 
of  the  National  Municipal  Leag-ue  and  as  a  tentative  plan  of  city  govern- 
ment, the  Report  made  by  the  Committee. 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  45 

Mr.  Low:  What  is  the  parliamentary  position  of  the  Report?  Has  It 
been  received? 

Tlie  Chair:  I  thiuli  it  has.  It  has  certainly  been  discussed  and  con- 
sidered, and  it  remains  to  be  voted  upon.  I  presume  a  motion  will  bo 
made  for  the  purpose  of  adopting  it.  Should  that  motion  be  carried,  It 
will  be  the  perfect  and  final  approval  by  the  League  of  the  scheme  con- 
sisting of  the  proposed  Constitutional  Amendment  and  Municipal  Cor- 
piorations  Act. 

Mr.  Burnham:  There  is,  of  course,  a  vei^y  laudable  desire  on  the  part  of 
all  the  delegates  and  all  members  of  this  Committee  to  make  the  Report 
as  perfect  as  possible.  But  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  it  has  first  re- 
ceived the  careful  consideration  of  the  Committee  appointed  at  Louis- 
ville; it  was  presented  to  this  body  at  Indianapolis  in  its  original  form; 
it  has  been  reconsidered  by  the  Committee,  has  now  passed  under  the 
criticism  of  this  body  at  this  meeting,  and  while  some  minor  points  have 
been  criticised,  yet  on  the  whole  there  has  been  no  serious  fault  found. 
There  are  some  things  which  I  myself  perhaps  would  lilie  10  see  changed, 
but  I  thinli  the  time  has  come  when  it  should  be  finally  acted  upon. 

Therefore,  I  move,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  Report  of  the  Committee 
on  Municipal  Program  be  received  and  its  recommendations  be  ratified 
and  adopted,  and  that  it  be  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee  with 
full  power. 

The  Chair:  What  does  that  latter  part  of  your  motion  mean  precisely? 
Mr.  Burnham:  If  the  Report  is  ratified  and  adopted,  the  Report  as  It 
is — that  closes  the  Report  as  far  as  the  League  is  concerned;  but  I  think 
it  is  too  soon  now  to  say  what  steps  shall  be  taken  to  propagate  this 
Report.  I  think  that  might  be  well  left  to  the  Executive  Committee  to 
consider.  Simply  as  to  what  means  are  to  be  taken  to  introduce  the 
Report  to  the  public  and  to  the  people,  that  full  power  be  given  to  the 
Executive  Committee. 

Mr.  Deming:  I  rise  to  second  the  motion.  There  have  been  many  sug- 
gestions made  here,  and  I  think  it  might  be  well  before  the  final  Report 
is  printed  and  distributed,  to  put  some  of  these  suggestions  in  as  alterna- 
tives or  as  foot  notes.  After  all,  what  we  are  trying  to  do  here  is  to  lay 
our  suggestions  before  the  friends  and  enemies  of  municipal  reform.  We 
are  trying  to  make  the  people  interested  in  the  bettering  of  city  govern- 
ment, imderstand  the  underlying  principles  and  to  set  before  them  metli- 
ods  for  the  application  of  those  principles,  1  think  that  we  can  and  should 
leave  certain  latitude  to  the  Executive  Committee,  which  I  am  sure  this 
entire  body  can  trust  to  it;  it  is  not  a  political  body  and  cannot  do  any- 
body any  harm. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  higher  compliment  we  have  received  for  our 
work,  outside  of  the  fact  that  the  gentlemen  on  the  Committee  could 
agree  at  all,  than  the  fact  that  while  our  honored  President  arrives  at 
his  conclusions  by  an  entirely  different  road,  he  reaches  the  same  cou- 
cusions  as  the  Committee.  It  is  largely  in  the  way  of  putting  things  th;ii 
tiiere  seems  to  be  a  difference  of  opinion,  when  we  eau  sit  down  and  talk 


46  COLUMBUS    CONFERENCE 


it  over,  we  find  there  is  not  really  any  difference  in  fundamentals.  I  do 
not  think  there  was  any  sentiment  expressed  by  our  President  that  would 
not  meet  with  the  approval  of  our  Committee,  and  is  not  indeed  express- 
ed explicitly  or  implicitly  somewhere  in  our  Program.  For  instance,  as 
to  the  original  source  of  the  sovereign  right.  It  comes  from  the  State. 
While  not  disputing  that  legal  theory,  we  would  like  to  retuirn  to  the 
spirit  of  the  old  historic  time  when  that  legal  principal  did  not  affect 
injuriously  the  conduct  of  local  affairs.  We  would  like  to  provide  safe- 
guards against  abuse  by  the  State  of  that  power,  and  this  we  have  ai- 
tempted  to  do  by  certain  measures  in  the  proposed  Municipal  Program. 

I  hope  this  motion  will  carry.  I  trust  the  work  of  our  Committee 
(you  may  consider  this,  I  suppose,  as  a  farewell  address  of  the  Commit- 
tee), may  prove  useful  in  more  than  one  way,  but  I  am  quite  cenfi- 
dent  it  will  aid  in  stimu'.ating  thought  and  inquiry  on  this  subject.  Aui 
I  want  to  announce  from  the  Committee  that  the  Report,  which  embraxies 
the  proposed  Constitutional  Amendment  and  Municipal  Corporations 
Act,  and  the  accompanying  official  papers  which  have  received  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Committee,  will  be  printed  in  the  course  of  a  month  or  six 
weeks  in  a  separate  book,  preceded  by  a  short  historical  introduction, 
and  supplemented  by  a  critical  examination  and  analysis  of  the  work  of 
the  Committee  from  Dr.  Wilcox,  and  a  carefully  prepared  index,  so  that 
it  will  be  in  form  for  study,  discussion  and  practical  use. 

Mr.  Low:  Do  I  understand  that  the  mover  of  the  motion  accepts  the 
interpretation  of  the  seconder? 

Mr.  Burnham:  I  agree  Avith  Mr.  Deming's  intei-pretallon. 

The  Chair:  The  Report,  if  any,  is  It  to  be  considered  as  a  verbal  one. 
to  be  ratified  and  approved? 

Mr.  Burnham:  I  mean  the  papers  before  us,  presented  by  the  Com 
mittee  and  including  the  proposed  Constitutional  Amendment  and  Mu- 
nicipal Corporations  Act. 

Mr.  Deming:  It  is  a  matter  very  easily  understood.  Our  Report  a 
year  ago  contained  an  explanatory  preface  which  showed  what  the 
Report  was;  also  certain  official  papers  presented  on  the  part  of  the  Com- 
mittee. We  have  drafted  the  Amendment  and  Act  and  presented  add- 
tional  oflieial  papers.  The  report  now  consists  of  the  proposed  Constitu- 
tional Amendment  and  Municipal  Corporations  Act,  and  of  the  several 
explanatory  papers  which  the  Committee  has  submitted. 

The  Chair:  It  is  moved  and  seconded,  gentlemen,  that  the  Report  of 
the  Committee  on  Municipal  Program  be  ratified  and  approved  and  its 
reeommendations  adopted,  and  that  the  same  be  referred  to  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  with  full  power. 

The  motion  was  unanimously  adopted. 

The  Chair:  It  is  carried  unanimously,  and  the  Report  stands  adopted, 
ratified  and  approved. 

Mr.  Deming:  On  behalf  of  the  Committee,  I  move  that  the  Committee 
on  Municipal  Program  be  formally  discharged. 

This  motion,  duly  seconded  by  the  Secretary,  was  carried: 


FOR    GOOD    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  47 

Mr.  Low:  "With  thanks. 

The  Chair:  It  is  so  ordered. 

Mr.  McClintock:  I  move  the  thanks  of  the  League  be  extended  to  this 
Committee  for  its  protracted  and  very  onerous  labors  in  this  matter. 
(Seconded.) 

The  Chair:  It  is  moved  that  a  vote  of  thanks  be  extended  to  this  Com 
mittee  for  its  protracted  and  very  onerous  and  successful  labors  which 
have  just  been  brought  to  a  close. 

This  motion,  duly  seconded,  was  adopted. 

The  Chair:  Before  putting  the  motion  that  the  League  now  adjourn 
without  day,  I  feel  moved  to  express  my  satisfaction  with  the  result  of 
its  labors  to  this  time,  results  which  refer  back,  however,  over  quite  a 
long  period.  There  have  been  two  annual  meetings  at  which  I  have  not 
been  present,  and  I  am  able,  therefore,  to  compare  the  present  condition 
of  the  League  and  the  character  of  its  present  efforts  with  such  as  it 
possssed  at  a  prior  period  ,  and  I  cannot  help  but  express  to  you  my 
profound  satisfaction.  It  has  ceased  to  be  an  organization  of  gentlemen 
who  come  together  with  desultory  and  superficial  opinions,  as  was 
largely  its  character  at  the  start.  We  have  now  become  the  centre 
around  which  gathers  the  best  character  and  the  best  ability.  The  char- 
acter of  the  papers  read  at  this  meeting  is  of  the  highest  order  and  gives 
promise  of  the  highest  usefulness  and  permament  effect  or  the  League. 
I  am  very  glad  it  was  founded;  more  than  ever  hopeful  of  ultimate 
success. 

The  motion  to  adjourn  without  day  was  duly  seconded  and  carried. 

And  thereupon  the  Fifth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  National  Municipal 
League  was  declared  adjourned  without  day. 


APPENDIX 


containing  the 

Papers  read  before  the  Columbus  Conference 

FOR  Good  City  Government. 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PROGRAM.  5 1 


AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PROPOSED  MUNICI- 
PAL PROGRAM. 


Dr.  Delo.s  F.  Wilcox,  Michigan. 


The  Committee  on  Municipal  Program,  in  its  survey  of  the 
municipal  situation  in  the  United  States,  has  recognized  the  ex- 
istence of  three  fundamental  evils  in  the  government  of  our  cities. 

1.  The  first  of  these  evils  is  economic,  and  consists  in  the  waste 
of  public  funds,  through  the  multiplication  of  offices,  the  employ- 
ment of  inefficient  officers,  the  payment  of  exorbitant  prices,  and 
the  expenditure  of  large  sums  in  relatively  fruitless  enterprises. 

2.  The  second  evil  is  "political,"  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term, 
and  consists  in  the  inadequacy  of  the  service  rendered  by  the  city 
government  to  the  people  of  the  city  and  State.  It  is  believed  to 
be  the  true  function  of  the  city  as  a  political  org-anization  so  to  reg- 
ulate the  relations  of  the  citizens  and  so  to  master  the  environment 
of  urban  life  that  the  people  of  the  city  may  have  the  fullest  possi- 
ble opportunity  for  self-development  in  civilization.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  however,  the  physical,  moral,  and  esthetic  conditions, 
amenable  to  political  control,  are  often  so  neglected  that  the  true 
ends  of  associated  life  in  the  city  are  partially  unattainable.  To 
say  nothing  of  rapid  transit  and  abundant  light  and  water,  many 
cities  are  notoriously  lax  in  the  protection  of  life  and  property, 
and  particularly  in  sanitary  protection.  This  inadequacy  of  so- 
cial service  is  very  clearly  seen  in  the  lack  of  foresight  so  often 
displayed  by  city  authorities  in  the  laying  out  of  streets,  parks,  and 
playgrounds,  and  in  the  provision  for  schools. 

3.  The  third  evil  of  city  government  is  a  moral  one,  and  consists 
in  the  corrupt  use  of  civic  authority  for  the  furtherance  of  indi- 
vidual ends.  It  is  patent  in  the  utilization  of  public  funds  as  assets 
with  which  to  pay  political  debts,  in  the  barter  of  franchises  and 
contracts  for  private  remuneration  of  one  kind  or  another,  in  the 
failure  to  enforce  the  laws,  and  sometimes  even  in  the  protection 


52  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PROGRAM. 

of  vice  and  crime  for  a  money  contribution  or  for  political  support. 
This  evil  gets  its  chief  importance,  not  from  the  direct  financial 
loss  to  the  city,  nor  from  the  freedom  enjoyed  by  the  vicious  and 
criminal  classes,  but  from  the  fact  that  it  throws  politics  into  dis- 
repute and  degrades  civic  ideals,  so  saturating  public  opinion  with 
distrust  and  a  sense  of  helplessness  that  co-operation  among  the 
people  for  the  attainment  of  truly  political  ends  is  rendered  well^ 
nigh  impossible. 

Every  existing  evil  has  one  or  more  causes,  and  to  destroy  the 
evil  the  causes  must  be  removed.  The  causes  of  the  evils  of  muni- 
cipal government  are,  many  of  them,  plain  to  even  the  casual  ob- 
server. Some,  however,  are  more  obscure,  and  often  the  obscure 
cause  is  as  important  as  the  patent  one.  The  committee  finds  the 
following  principal  causes  of  the  fundamental  evils  already  men- 
tioned. 
I.  Of  the  economic  evil,  waste  of  public  funds. 

1.  The  first  cause  is  ignorance,  which  takes  three  forms — ordi- 
nary illiteracy,  or  narrowness  of  intellectual  culture  among  public 
officials,  ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  the  actual  processes 
of  their  government,  and  that  species  of  ignorance  exhibited  by 
men  possessing  wide  general  culture  when  they  are  called  upon 
to  perform  public  duties  of  a  special  nature  and  for  which  they 
have  had  no  special  preparation. 

2.  A  second  cause  of  waste  is  partisanship,  by  which  is  meant, 
not  the  legitimate  adherence  to  political  organizations  that  stand 
for  different  public  policies  in  the  city,  but  rather  the  introduction 
of  irrelevant  issues  into  the  choice  of  city  officers  and  the  solution 
of  city  problems. 

3.  A  third  cause  of  waste  is  State  interference,  by  which  is  meant 
the  attempt  so  often  made  by  State  Legislatures,  the  majority  of 
whose  members  are  ignorant  of  city  conditions,  or  at  least  re- 
sponsible to  a  constitutency  thus  ignorant,  to  settle  local  problems 
of  government.  If  partisanship  means  the  introduction  of  irrele- 
vant issues,  State  interference  means  the  introduction  of  irrele- 
vant men  to  govern. 

4.  A  fourth  cause  of  waste  is  municipal  irresponsibility,  which  is 
the  counterpart  of  State  interference,  and  consists  in  the  conduct 


DELOS    F.    WILCOX.  53 


of  municipal  afifairs  without  due  regard  to  the  duty  that  the  city  as 
a  local  organ  of  government  owes  to  the  State  at  large. 

5.  A  fifth  cause  of  waste  is  indefiniteness  of  organization,  on  ac- 
count of  which  the  incidence  of  responsibility  is  obscure  and  the 
people  are  unable  to  hold  themselves  and  their  officials  to  strict  ac- 
count for  the  right  conduct  of  public  afifairs. 
II    Of  the  political  evil,  inadequacy  of  service. 

1.  The  first  cause  is  individualism,  an  undeveloped  civic  con- 
sciousness, on  account  of  which  the  people  tend  to  rely  upon  pri- 
vate efifort  for  the  satisfaction  of  public  needs,  and  in  many  cases  to 
stigmatize  legitimate  co-operative  civic  enterprises  as  "socialistic" 
and  therefore  unwise  and  dangerous. 

2.  A  second  cause  of  inadequacy  of  service  is  inadequacy  of 
power,  the  city  being  unable  to  undertake  needful  civic  enterprises 
on  account  of  the  parsimonious  enumeration  of  its  powers  in  its 
charter,  or  on  account  of  obstructive  limitations  put  upon  its  pro- 
cedure by  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  State. 

3.  A  third  cause  of  inadequacy  of  service  is  undemocratic  organ- 
ization by  reason  of  which  the  people  of  a  city  are  unable  to  make 
their  will  effective. 

III.  Of  the  moral  evil,  official  corruption. 

1.  The  first  cause  is  greed,  not  the  greed  of  politicians  particu- 
larly, but  the  greed  of  people  generally  in  a  community  where  the 
struggle  for  life  is  intense  and  wealth  takes  the  place  of  culture  in 
popular  ideals. 

2.  A  second  cause  of  corruption  is  the  lack  of  civic  integrity ; 
'that  is  to  say,  a  deficiency  in  civic  ideals  and  an  absence  of  civic 
unity,  due  in  large  measure  to  the  newness  and  compositeness  of 
most  American  cities. 

3.  A  third  cause  of  corruption  is  the  private  control  of  public 
privileges,  by  which  special  powers  are  intrusted  to  individuals 
and  corporations  without  due  responsibility  for  their  proper  use. 

The  committee  recognizes  that  many  of  these  causes  are  such 
as  can  be  removed  only  through  long-continued  processes  of  edu- 
cation and  social  development.  There  are,  however,  many  of 
them  inherent  in  our  present  system  of  laws,  and  it  is  to  the  re- 
moval of  such  through  a  better  organization  of  city  government  in 


54  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PROGRAM. 

all  its  relations  that  the  committee's  attention  has  been  specifically 
directed. 

The  conditions  of  American  commonwealth  government — of 
which  the  municipality  is  a  part — are  such  that  a  program  of  legal 
reform  for  cities  must  be  divided  into  two  sections,  one  to  be  in- 
corporated in  the  constitutions  of  the  commonwealths,  and  one  to 
be  enacted  as  a  part  of  the  general  laws.  The  committee  has, 
therefore,  drafted  a  constitutional  amendment  embodying  those 
remedies  for  the  evils  of  municipal  government  which,  in  its  opin- 
ion, may  properly  be  made  a  part  of  the  fundamental  law,  and  also 
a  general  municipal  corporations  act  in  which  these  remedies  are 
elaborated  and  supplemented  by  others  not  considered  so  funda- 
mental as  to  require  constitutional  guarantees. 

Following  is  an  outline  of  remedies  proposed  by  the  committee 
for  the  several  causes  of  municipal  misgovernment  already  enu- 
merated : 

I.  Ignorance. — To  remove  this  cause  of  wastefulness  in  public 
expenditures  several  measures  are  recommended. 

a.  Competitive  examinations  to  test  fitness  for  appointment  to 
positions  in  the  city's  administrative  service.  This  would  elimin- 
ate illiteracy  and  general  intellectual  unfitness  from  among  office- 
holders. Constitutional  Amendment,  III:  6.  Municipal  Corpora- 
tions Act,  IV. 

b.  Indefinite  tenure  of  office  for  all  members  of  the  administra- 
tive service  except  the  mayor.  This  would  tend  to  encouarge  per- 
manence in  official  tenure,  thus  leading  to  the  acquisition  of  spe- 
cial knowledge  and  experience  on  the  part  of  public  officers.  C. 
A.,  Ill:  6. 

c.  Financial  accounts  and  reports.  A  complete  set  of  records 
is  to  be  kept  by  the  city  controller,  showing  the  city's  financial 
transactions,  and  the  accounts  of  every  grantee  of  a  public  fran- 
chise, and  reports  are  to  be  made  to  the  council  and  the  State  fiscal 
officer.  This  will  insure  the  opportunity  for  knowledge  in  regard 
to  the  financial  aft"airs  of  the  city,  not  only  to  the  officers  of  the 
city  and  State,  but  also  to  the  people  at  large.  C.  A.,  Ill:  4.  M.  C. 
A.,  II:  15,  and  VI. 

d.  Roster  of  administrative  service.  A  public  list  of  all  public 
employees,  except  ordinary  laborers,  with  date  of  appointment. 


DELOS    F.    WILCOX.  55 


compensation,  and  other  information  given,  is  to  be  kept  by  the 
Civil  Service  Commissioners.  This  will  give  the  people  an  oppor- 
tunity to  know  just  who  the  officers  of  the  city  are  and  how  much 
they  are  paid.    M.  C.  A.,  IV:  6. 

2.  Partisanship. — To  remove,  so  far  as  possible,  this  cause  of 
wastefulness  and  inefficiency,  the  following  measures  are  pro- 
posed: 

a.  The  separation  of  municipal  from  State  and  national  elec- 
tions. This  will  permit  the  people  to  settle  municipal  questions  at 
other  times  than  when  State  and  national  issues  are  pressing  for 
immediate  consideration.     C.  A.,  1:3.     M.  C.  A.,  VII:  2. 

b.  The  requirements  that  the  nomination  of  all  elective  city  offi- 
cers shall  be  by  petition,  that  the  voter  must  vote  separately  for 
each  candidate  for  whom  he  desires  to  vote,  and  that  the  names 
of  all  candidates  for  the  same  city  office  shall  be  arranged  alpha- 
betically under  the  title  of  the  office  to  be  filled  will  favor  freedom 
of  nominations  and  make  it  easier  when  desirable  to  escape  from 
the  dictation  of  party  primaries  and  conventions.  C.  A.,  I:  3. 
M.  C  A.,  VII:3. 

c.  Civil  service  reform  and  the  prohibition  of  political  assess- 
ments. This  will  take  away  from  political  and  personal  machines 
two  chief  sources  of  their  strength,  the  power  to  reward  their  fol- 
lowers with  the  spoils  of  office  and  the  power  to  replenish  their 
treasuries  with  enforced  contributions  from  the  army  of  public 
servants  dependent  upon  them  for  their  positions.  C.  A.,  Ill:  6. 
M.  C.  A.,  IV:  II,  13. 

3.  State  interference. — This  prolific  source  of  municipal  diffi- 
culty will  be  greatly  diminished  by  certain  measures  proposed  in 
the  program. 

a.  The  main  outlines  of  municipal  government  are  established 
in  the  constitution  itself,  thus  putting  the  city  on  a  par  with  the 
central  State  government  to  a  certain  extent  and  preventing  the 
constant  interference  of  the  State  Legislature  in  matters  settled  by 
the  constitution  or  assigned  to  the  municipal  authorities  for  settle- 
ment.   C.  A.  entire. 

b.  Limitation  of  special  legislation.  Obnoxious  special  legisla- 
tion is  made  difficult  by  requiring  for  the  passage  of  any  special 
act  an  absolute  two-thirds  vote  of  the  Legislature  in  the  affirma- 


56  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE    PROGRAM. 

tive,  to  be  followed  by  a  reference  of  the  bill  to  the  council  of  the 
city  affected  for  approval;  sixty  days  are  allowed  for  the  consider- 
ation of  the  measure  by  the  local  council,  and  if  at  the  end  of  that 
time  the  council  has  failed  to  signify  its  approval,  the  measure  can 
become  law  only  when  passed  a  second  time  by  an  absolute  two- 
thirds  affirmative  vote  of  the  Lgislature,  this  two-thirds  to  in- 
clude three-fourths  of  all  the  members  representing  districts  out- 
side the  city  or  cities  affected.  Special  legislation  is  defined  as  any 
legislation  applicable  to  less  than  all  of  the  cities  or  to  less  than 
all  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  State.  These  provisions  will  make 
State  interference  impracticable  unless  the  welfare  of  the  State 
demands  it  so  strongly  as  to  make  the  members  of  the  Legislature 
not  representing  the  locality  affected  almost  unanimous.  C.  A., 
111:7. 

The  grant  of  exclusive  privileges  or  franchises  to  any  private 
individual  or  corporation  by  special  act  of  the  State  Legislature  is 
absolutely  prohibited.    C.  A.,  IL 

c.  General  municipal  corporations  act.  State  interference  in 
local  affairs  is  limited  by  a  constitutional  requirement  that  the 
Legislature  shall  pass  general  law^s  applicable  to  all  cities  which 
shall  by  popular  vote  choose  to  be  governed  by  them.  The  com- 
mittee proposes  as  the  second  part  of  its  program  such  a  general 
corporations  act.  The  existence  of  such  a  law  would  often  do 
away  with  the  necessity  of  special  legislation,  where  a  city  wishes 
to  be  incorporated  or  to  exercise  wider  powers  than  have  been 
granted  to  it  in  its  existing  charter.  C.  A.,  Ill:  8.  M.  C.  A. 
entire. 

4.  Municipal  irresponsibility. — This  cause  of  extravagance  and 
inefficiency  in  city  government  can  be  met  only  by  the  recognition 
of  the  city's  proper  relation  to  the  State  and  by  the  provision  of  an 
adequate  system  of  central  control.  The  specific  measures  to  this 
end  proposed  in  the  program  are. three. 

a.  Limitation  of  municipal  debt  and  tax  rate.  It  is  proposed  to 
incorporate  in  the  constitution  a  limit  upon  the  aggregate  debt 
which  a  city  can  incur  for  other  than  self-supporting  undertakings 
and  a  limit  upon  the  municipal  tax  rate  for  all  purposes  exclusive 
of  necessary  public  debt  charges.  These  limitations  are  placed 
upon  the  city  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  resources  of  the 


DELOS    F.    WILCOX.  57 


State  itself  are  crippled  by  municipal  extravagance  and  to  en- 
force upon  the  municipality  its  responsibility  to  the  State  for  the 
moderate  use  of  its  delegated  powers.  C.  A.,  Ill:  2.  M.  C.  A., 
II:  14. 

b.  Declaration  of  local  agency.  It  is  proposed  to  declare  the 
city  within  its  boundaries  the  exclusive  local  agent  of  the  central 
government  for  the  enforcement  of  State  laws,  except  as  may 
otherwise  be  provided  for  all  cities  alike.  This  measure  would 
throw  upon  the  city  a  definite  responsibility,  and  would  tend  to 
do  away  with  the  feeling  of  hostility  toward  the  State  authorities 
which  the  people  of  cities  are  likely  to  entertain  whenever  the  cen- 
tral government  sends  special  agents  among  them  to  execute  gen- 
eral laws.     M.  C.  A.,  II:  16. 

c.  State  supervision.  It  is  proposed  to  open  the  way  for  a  sys- 
tem of  central  administrative  control  by  declaring  that  cities  shall 
be  subject  to  the  supervision  of  such  State  officers  or  administra- 
tive boards  as  may  be  established  by  general  laws  applicable  to  all 
cities.  It  is  specifically  proposed  to  require  detailed  financial  re- 
ports by  the  city  authorities  to  the  State  fiscal  officer,  these  reports 
to  be  laid  before  the  Legislature  and  published  as  a  part  of  the 
public  documents  of  the  State.  Furthermore  the  governor  may 
remove  the  mayor  after  a  hearing  for  specified  reasons  involving 
misconduct,  incapacity  or  negligence.  C.  A.,  Ill:  4.  M.  C.  A., 
II:  15,  17;  111:4. 

5.  Indefinite  organization. — Responsibility  for  the  right  exer- 
cise of  municipal  powers  is  to  be  defined  by  the  following  meas- 
ures of  organization : 

a.  The  mayor  and  members  of  the  council  are  to  be  the  only 
officers  elected  by  the  people,  and'  they  are  to  be  chosen  on  gen- 
eral ticket.  It  is  believed  that  this  provision  will  make  popular  re- 
sponsibility for  the  choice  of  good  and  capable  officials  more  defi- 
nite by  reducing  the  number  to  be  chosen  at  any  one  time  and  by 
requiring  that  the  attention  of  the  whole  city  be  concentrated  upon 
all  the  candidates.    C.  A.,  111:6.    M.  C.  A.,  V:8. 

b.  Powers  of  the  mayor.  It  is  proposed  to  concentrate  in  the 
mayor  full  responsibility  for  the  conduct  of  the  administrative  ser- 
vice by  giving  him  authority  to  appoint  and  remove  all  city  offi- 
cers, except  the  controller,  subject  to  the  civil  service  regulations. 


58  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PROGRAM. 

He  is  permitted  to  attend  council  meetings  and  take  part  in  the 
proceedings,  but  without  a  vote;  and  he  must  prepare  the  annual 
budget,  from  which  the  council  may  subtract,  but  to  which  it  may 
not  add.  The  mayor  is  also  given  the  usual  veto  power  over  the 
acts  of  the  council.  It  is  believed  that  the  large  powers  of  the 
mayor  will  enable  him  to  give  an  excellent  administration  if  he  is 
capable  and  conscientious,  while  the  careful  restrictions  put  upon 
him  by  the  civil  service  provisions  and  the  checking  powers  of 
the  governor,  the  council,  and  the  controller  will  prevent  him 
from  stopping  the  machinery  of  government  by  his  blunders  if  he 
is  inefBcient  or  from  turning  over  the  government  to  a  set  of  ras- 
cals if  he  is  a  knave.    C.  A.,  111:6.    M.  C.  A.,  Ill,  IV,  entire. 

c.  Powers  of  the  council.  The  council  is  made  the  sole  legis- 
lative authority  of  the  city.  It  exercises  all  corporate  powers  not 
specifically  assigned  to  some  other  authority.  It  passes  all  ordi- 
nances and  makes  all  appropriations.  It  may  establish  new  muni- 
cipal offices  and  may  investigate  any  department  of  the  city  ad- 
ministration. Finally,  the  council  elects  and  may  remove  the  city 
controller,  and  receives  his  reports.  Although  the  principle  of  the 
assignment  of  administrative  and  legislative  functions  to  separate 
authorities  has  been  adopted  for  the  sake  of  defining  responsibility, 
nevertheless  the  council  is  a  body  of  vast  powers  for  both  con- 
struction and  obstruction.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  municipal 
legislative  functions  increase  in  importance  with  the  decrease  of 
State  interference  and  the  establishment  of  municipal  home  rule. 
M.  C.  A.,  V. 

d.  Powers  of  the  controller.  The  financial  officer  of  the  city, 
elected  by  the  council  for  an  indefinite  term,  is  clothed  with  full 
power  and  responsibility  for  keeping  the  expenditure  of  public 
funds  within  legal  channels.  It  is  his  business  to  audit  claims, 
countersign  all  city  drafts  or  warrants  and  contracts,  keep  the 
city's  books,  and  make  financial  reports  to  the  council.  He  may 
also  require  information  concerning  the  financial  transactions  of 
any  grantee  of  a  public  franchise,  and  shall  receive  and  publish 
financial  reports  from  every  such  grantee.  C.  A.,  Ill:  i.  M.  C. 
A.,  II:  lo,  II,  14,  15,  and  VI. 

e.  Citizens'  powers.  In  order  to  make  it  possible  for  the  people 
to  help  in  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,  it  is  provided  that  a  certain 


DELOS    F.    WILCOX.  $9 


number  of  citizens  who  are  householders,  acting  together,  may 
bring  suit  to  enjoin  the  execution  of  any  illegal  contract,  the  pay- 
ment of  illegal  claims,  or  the  payment  of  the  salaries  of  persons 
illegally  appointed  to  office;  they  may  also  bring  suit  to  recover 
money  illegally  paid  out.     M.  C.  A.,  VII:  7. 

6.  Individualism. — In  the  nature  of  the  case  the  committee  can 
oflfer  no  legal  remedy  for  this  cause  of  inadequacy  of  municipal 
service.  It  is  believed  that  the  stubborn  argument  of  civic  neces- 
sity combined  with  the  ample  powers  possessed  by  the  citizens 
under  the  proposed  Program  will  gradually  overcome  however 
much  of  evil  there  is  in  individualistic  tendencies. 

7.  Inadequacy  of  power. — The  remedies  proposed  under  this 
caption  may  all  be  included  in  the  term  "municipal  home  rule." 
ine  provisions  recommended  for  the  attainment  of  this  end  are 
numerous  and  important: 

a.  General  grant  of  powers.  Instead  of  the  detailed  enumera- 
tion of  powers  granted  to  the  city  we  are  to  have  besides  the  speci- 
fication of  the  chief  ones  a  general  grant  which  will  enable  the 
city  to  meet  emergencies  as  they  arise,  without  seking  further  leg- 
islative grants.  The  city  may  acquire,  hold,  and  manage  property. 
The  city  is  to  have  authority  to  undertake  all  public  services,  in- 
cluding such  things  as  the  operation  of  street  railways  and  ferreis 
and  the  distribution  of  gas,  water,  and  electricity.  It  is  vested 
with  power  to  perform  and  render  all  public  services  and  with  all 
powers  of  government  subject  to  the  limitations  contained  in  the 
State  constitutions  and  to  laws  applicable  either  to  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  State  or  to  all  the  cities  of  the  State  and  to  special  laws 
as  already  defined.    C.  A.,  111:7.     M.  C.  A.,  II. 

b.  Powers  of  taxation,  eminent  domain,  and  debt  making. 
Within  the  corporate  limits  the  city  has  the  same  powers  of  taxa- 
tion as  are  possessed  by  the  State;  it  may  license  and  regulate  all 
trades,  occupations,  and  businesses;  it  may  levy  special  assess- 
ments upon  property  benefited  to  pay  for  local  improvements. 
In  order  that  its  authority  to  undertake  public  service  enterprises 
may  be  real,  the  city  is  given  authority  to  acquire  land  for  muni- 
cipal purposes  by  purchase  or  condemnation  within  or  without 
the  corporate  limits,  and  authority  to  incur  unlimited  indebtedness 
for  self-supporting  undertakings  that  produce  revenue  sufficient 


6o  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PROGRAM. 

to  take  care  of  current  interest  and  pay  at  maturity  the  principal 
of  the  debt  incurred  on  their  account.  C.  A.,  Ill:  2,  7.  M.  C.  A., 
II:  12,  13,  14. 

c.  Annexation  of  territory.  Cities  shall  have  power  to  annex 
territor}-  with  the  consent  of  its  inhabitants  subject  to  the  approval 
of  the  State  Legislature.  This  measure  will  enable  the  local  au- 
thorities to  keep  the  corporate  boundaries  of  the  city  and  the 
sphere  of  municipal  service  co-extensive  with  the  natural  bounda- 
ries of  the  city.    M.  C.  A.,  I:  2. 

d.  Application  of  the  general  municipal  corporations  act.  This 
act  shall  apply  to  those  cities  only  which  by  popular  vote  deter- 
mine to  incorporate  under  it.  In  this  way  ever}^  city  is  permitted 
to  choose  whether  it  will  accept  the  benefits  and  obligations  of  the 
general  municipal  system  established  by  the  Legislature,  or  will 
apply  to  the  Legislature  for  a  special  charter,  or  will  under  certain 
conditions  frame  its  own  charter.     M.  C.  A.,  I:  i. 

c.  Establishment  of  minor  courts  and  municipal  of^ces.  Every 
city  shall  have  power  to  complete  its  own  organization  by  the  cre- 
ation of  new  offices  and  the  establishment  of  municipal  courts. 
Thus  the  city  will  be  enabled  to  adapt  its  organization  to  the  in- 
creasing demands  upon  it.     C.  A.,  Ill:  5.     M.  C.  A.,  II:  9;  V:  8. 

f.  Framing  of  charters.  Any  city  with  a  population  of  25,000 
or  more  may  elect  a  board  of  citizen  householders  to  frame,  under 
certain  limitations  as  to  the  municipal  organization,  a  charter 
which,  if  adopted  by  the  people,  shall  become  the  organic  law  of 
the  city.  This  charter  may  be  amended  at  intervals  of  not  less 
than  two  years  by  proposals  submitted  to  popular  vote.  In  these 
provisions  we  have  the  last  guaranty  of  municipal  self-rule,  by 
which  the  city  becomes  responsible  not  only  for  the  proper  admin- 
istration of  the  laws,  but  also  for  the  wise  organization  of  the  ma- 
chinery of  government  itself.     C.  A.,  IV. 

8.  Undemocratic  organization. — To  perfect  the  organization  of 
democracy  in  the  cities,  thus  enabling  the  will  of  the  people  to  be- 
come directly  effective,  it  is  proposed  to  make  possible  certain 
radical  changes  of  political  methods. 

a.  Minorit)'  or  proportional  representation.  The  committee, 
feeling  unable  to  be  dogmatic  as  to  the  best  mode  of  representa- 
tion in  the  council,  proposes  to  leave  the  legislative  authority  of 


DELOS    F.    WILCOX.  6 1 


each  city  free  to  devise  a  suitable  plan  for  such  representation,  to 
become  effective  when  approved  by  the  people,  and  upon  a  duly 
authenticated  petition  therefor,  a  proposition  to  establish  sucli  a 
method  of  representation  must  be  submitted  to  popular  vote. 
C.  A.,  111:3.     M.  C.  A.,  V:ii. 

b.  Direct  legislation.  It  is  also  proposed  to  leave  each  city  free 
in  like  manner  to  establish  a  system  of  direct  legislation,  so  that 
qualified  voters  of  the  city  may  submit  and  a  majority  thereof  vot- 
ing thereon  may  decide  by  direct  vote  upon  propositions  relative 
to  city  matters.    C.  A.,  Ill:  3.     M.  C.  A.,  V:  11. 

c.  Civil  service  reform.  The  organization  of  democracy  is  to 
be  aided  by  this  reform  in  methods  of  appointing  and  promoting 
public  officials,  all  of  the  people  thus  being  put  upon  an  equality 
and  those  best  fitted  for  official  duties  being  enabled  to  enter  the 
service  of  the  city.    C.  A.,  Ill:  6.     M.  C.  A.,  IV,  entire. 

9.  Greed. — This  prolific  cause  of  civic  corruption  cannot  be 
removed  by  direct  legal  remedies,  but  the  organization  of  the  citv 
government  under  the  proposed  Program,  the  direct  and  langibie 
responsibility  enforceable  upon  the  public  officials,  the  publicity 
of  their  official  acts,  the  ample  opportunity  for  the  citzens  di- 
rectly to  participate  in,  and.  if  they  choose,  to  control  the  conduct 
of  public  affairs  will  tend  to  diminish  and  make  it  possible  to  re- 
move official  corruption  as  a  cause  of  municipal  ills. 

10.  Lack  of  civic  integrity. — This  cause  of  corruption  is  also 
beyond  the  direct  reach  of  legislative  remedies,  but  conditions 
which  favor  the  awakening  of  a  civic  conscience  and  make  possi- 
ble the  establishment  and  enforcement  of  a  high  standard  of  civic 
conduct  are  created  under  the  proposed  Municipal  Program.  So 
far  as  the  composite  character  of  the  population  is  responsible  for 
the  lack  of  civic  integrity,  this  cause  will  disappear  with  the  grad- 
ual assimilation  of  the  foreign  elements. 

11.  Private  control  of  public  privileges. — For  this  cause  of  cor- 
ruption more  tangible  remedies  can  be  suggested.  The  Program 
does  not  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  city  ought  not  to  grant  any 
franchises  or  special  privileges  whatever.  But  it  proposes  par- 
ticular safeguards  to  prevent  the  betrayal  of  the  public  interests. 

a.  Limitation  upon  franchise  grants.  The  rights  of  the  city  in 
its  public  places  are  declared  inalienable  except  by  a  four-fifths 


62  AN    EXAMINATION    OF    THE    PROGRAM. 

vote  of  all  the  members  of  the  council  approved  by  the  mayor,  and 
no  franchise  shall  be  granted  for  a  longer  period  than  twenty-one 
years.  In  this  way  the  grant  of  perpetual  franchises  will  be  pre- 
vented and  the  corrupt  grant  of  franchises  on  any  conditions  will 
be  rendered  difficult.     C.  A.,  Ill:  i.     M.  C.  A.,  II:  lo. 

b.  Publicity  of  grantees'  accounts.  Every  grantee  of  a  munici- 
pal franchise  is  required  to  furnish  detailed  financial  reports  to  the 
city  controller,  thus  insuring  to  the  people  and  officers  of  the  city 
the  opportunity  to  know  what  semi-public  services  cost  and  to 
hold  those  who  perform  them  responsible  for  adequate  service  at 
reasonable  rates.     C.  A.,  Ill:  i.     M.  C.  A.,  II:  lo. 

c.  Municipal  powers.  The  city  need  not  permit  the  private  con- 
trol of  public  privileges.  It  "may,  if  it  deems  proper,  acquire  oi 
construct,  and  may  also  operate  on  its  own  account,  and  ma)-  reg- 
ulate or  prohibit  the  construction  or  operation  of  railroads  or 
other  means  of  transit  or  transportation  and  methods  for  the  pro- 
duction of  transmission  of  heat,  light,  electricity,  or  other  power, 
in  any  of  their  forms,  by  pipes,  wires,  or  other  means."  M.  C.  A., 
II:  10. 

The  proposed  Municipal  Program  has  taken  democracy  for 
granted,  and  has  attempted  to  organize  municipal  government  in 
relation  to  this  great  fact.  There  are  those  who  hold  that  the 
future  experience  of  the  world  will  discredit  democracy  as  a 
method  of  government,  and  in  particular  that  democracy  will 
prove  itself  inadequate  for  the  solution  of  city  problems.  But  at 
present,  with  the  history  of  the  past  before  us,  the  hope  of  human- 
ity seems  to  lie  in  the  perfection  of  democracy  rather  than  in  any 
retrogressive  step,  in  exalting  rather  than  in  lessening  popular 
responsibility. 


POLITICAL    PARTIES    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  63 


POLITICAL  PARTIES  AND  CITY   GOVERNMENT 

UNDER  THE  PROPOSED  MUNICIPAL 

PROGRAM. 

Prof.  Frank  J.  Goodnow, 

Columbia  University. 


For  many  years  the  conviction  has  been  growing  in  strength 
among  those  interested  in  improving  the  conditions  of  American 
cities,  that  an  important,  if  not  the  chief,  cause  of  the  evils  which 
admittedly  exist  in  our  municipal  life  is  the  fact  that  municipal 
questions  have  not  been  clearly  enough  distinguished  from  gen- 
eral political  questions;  that  municipal  interests  have  been  sacri- 
ficed to  the  exigencies  of  national  and  State  politics. 

When  the  National  Municipal  League  was  formed,  those  re- 
sponsible for  its  formation  were  so  thoroughly  convinced  that 
this  was  the  case,  that  the  separation  of  municipal  from  national 
and  State  politics  was  made  one  of  the  most  important  planks  of 
the  platform  on  which  the  League  was  placed.  In  many  cities  in 
the  country  political  campaigns  have  been  foughr  out  on  this 
issue. 

The  questions  naturally  present  themselves:  Why  is  it  that  a 
principle  so  reasonable  as  that  of  the  separation  of  municipal  and 
national  politics  has  not  received  universal  recognition?  Why  is 
it  that  national  and  State  political  parties  busy  themselves  with 
municipal  politics?  and,  What  must  be  done  in  any  municipal  re- 
form to  be  undertaken  which  will  bring  it  about  that  municipal 
questions  may  be  determined  on  their  own  merits? 

The  answer  to  the  question  why  this  principle  has  not  received 
universal  recognition  can  be  made  only  after  an  understanding 
has  been  reached  as  to  the  reasons  why  the  political  parties  interest 
themselves  in  municipal  politics.  These  are  two  in  number.  They 
are,  first,  the  natural  and  legitimate  desire  of  political  parties  to 


64  POLITICAL    PARTIES    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 

further  the  objects  for  which  they  have  been  established.  They 
are,  secondly,  their  desire — just  as  natural,  but  not  so  legitimate — 
to  make  use  of  the  city  to  strengthen  their  own  organization  and 
maintain  themselves  in  power. 

Why,  now,  does  the  national  and  State  party  under  our  present 
conditions  desire  to  control  the  city,  in  order  to  further  the  objects 
for  which  the  party  is  formed?  Because  under  our  system  of  gov- 
ernment the  city  is  a  most  important  agent  of  the  State  govern- 
ment. Officers  elected  directly  or  indirectly  by  the  people  of  the 
city  are  discharging  functions  which  are  of  vital  interest  to  the 
State  or  nation.  Thus  the  matter  of  education,  which  is  often  re- 
garded as  within  the  scope  of  local  government,  is  a  matter  in 
which  the  State  as  a  whole  has  a  most  vital  interest.  In  a  coun- 
try where  universal  manhood  suffrage  is  the  rule  the  people  of  the 
State  as  a  whole  are  vitally  interested  in  having  the  youth  of  every 
community  within  its  limits  receive  an  education  which  will  fit 
them  for  the  intelligent  exercise  of  their  right  to  vote. 

Again,  the  people  of  the  State  as  a  whole  have  a  vital  interest 
in  the  preservation  of  the  peace  and  the  maintenance  of  good  san- 
itary conditions  in  every  community  within  the  State.  Both  dis- 
order and  disease  are  contagious,  and  their  existence  in  one  com- 
munity of  the  State  is  a  menace  to  the  welfare  of  the  people  of  the 
State  as  a  whole. 

But  while  the  people  of  the  State  as  a  whole  are  thus  interested 
most  vitally  in  much  that  is  commonly  regarded  as  a  function  of 
municipal  government,  it  does  not  by  any  means  follow  that  their 
interest  is  not  subserved  by  permitting  these  matters  to  be  man- 
aged by  the  city  governments.  For  while  the  people  of  the  State 
as  a  whole  are  interested  in  having  the  children  of  every  com- 
munity well  educated  and  the  peace  and  health  of  every  commu- 
nity maintained,  at  the  same  time  every  such  community  has, 
as  a  rule,  an  even  greater  interest  in  securing  these  results  than 
the  people  of  the  State.  It  is  the  children  of  the  local  commu- 
nity not  making  provision  for  a  good  educational  system,  who 
primarily  suffer.  It  is  the  people  of  the  local  community  not  pre- 
serving the  peace  and  not  maintaining  good  sanitary  conditions, 
who  are  most  exposed  to  the  dangers  arising  from  disorder  and 
disease. 


FRANK    J.    GOODNOW.  65. 


The  appeal  to  local  self-interest  which  is  the  psychological  prin- 
ciple at  the  basis  of  the  local  self-government  system,  generally 
awakens  sufficient  response  to  justify  the  existence  of  such  a  sys- 
tem. At  the  same  time,  the  interest  which  the  people  of  the  State 
have  in  the  proper  performance  by  the  local  communities  of  duties 
affecting  the  people  of  the  State  always  exists  and  does  not  permit 
them  to  look  with  unconcern  upon  the  failure  of  local  communi- 
ties to  perform  their  duties,  whether  such  failure  arises  from  in- 
difference and  lack  of  intelligence  or  from  positive  unwillingness. 
The  city  is,  then,  in  numerous  instances  an  agent  of  the  State 
government,  and  as  such  is  through  its  officers  discharging  func- 
tions which  interest  vitally  the  people  of  the  State.  The  State  is, 
therefore,  justified  in  exercising  a  control  over  the  city,  in  order 
to  protect  its  own  interests,  so  long  as  it  permits  the  city  to  act 
as  its  agent.  If  this  control  is  an  effective  one,  i.  e.,  if  the  system 
of  government  is  such  that  State  officers  really  control  municipal 
action,  the  State  political  party  may,  through  its  control  of  the 
State  government,  which  it  is  formed  to  carry  on,  exercise  all 
the  influence  which  it  deems  necessary  should  be  exercised  over 
the  discharge  of  functions  of  government  intrusted  to  the  city,  but 
interesting  the  State  as  a  whole.  Until  the  State  control,  however, 
is  an  effective  one,  the  political  party  will  inevitably  enter  into  mu- 
nicipal politics. 

The  greater  the  powers  of  local  self-government  possessed  by 
cities  the  greater  will  be  the  desire  of  the  political  parties  to  inter- 
fere with  their  government.  Let  me  make  this  clearer  by  an  ex- 
ample. Suppose  that  a  moral  question,  such  as  total  abstinence, 
has  become  a  question  of  politics.  We  have  a  prohibition  party 
formed  which  carries  the  State  and  puts  a  law  on  the  statute  book 
prohibiting  the  sale  of  liquor.  So  long  as  our  principles  of  local 
self-government  obtain,  the  enforcement  of  that  law  is  very  largely 
in  the  uncontrolled  discretion  of  city  officers.  Now,  the  political 
party  organized  for  the  purpose  of  prohibiting  the  sale  of  liquor 
would  be  recreant  to  its  principles  if  it  did  not  strive  to  obtain 
control  of  the  city  government,  in  order  that  it  might  insist  upon 
the  enforcement  of  the  law  which  it  had  put  on  the  statute  book. 

So  far,  then,  as  the  city  is  acting  as  the  uncontrolled  agent  of 
the  State,  to  that  extent  is  the  political  party  interested,  and  prop- 


66  POLITICAL    PARTIES    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 

erly  interested,  in  the  operations  of  city  government.  So  far  as 
matters  interesting  the  State  as  a  whole  are  taken  from  out  of  the 
jurisdiction  of  cities,  or  are  subjected  to  an  effective  State  con- 
trol, so  far  will  the  temptation  of  the  political  parties  to  interfere 
with  municipal  government  be  diminished. 

In  the  second  place,  the  political  party  desires  to  interfere  with 
city  government  for  reasons  differing  widely  in  character  from 
those  already  referred  to.  The  work  of  the  political  party  under 
our  system  of  government  by  checks  and  balances  and  of  elective 
officers  is  enormous.  Elections  for  either  national  State,  or  local 
officers  coming  every  year,  it  is  necessary  for  the  success  of  the 
party  that  it  be  permanently  organized,  always  ready  to  do  battle 
for  the  principles  it  represents. 

Now,  one  of  the  most  evident  facts  of  history  is  that  all  per- 
manent organizations  finally  get  to  be  ends  in  themselves,  instead 
of  remaining  a  means  to  an  end.  Political  parties  are  no  exception 
to  this  rule.  The  maintenance  in  its  integrity  and  power  of  the 
political  party  organization  becomes  an  end  in  itself,  in  the  accom- 
plishment of  which  the  ends  for  which  the  party  was  formed  may 
be  lost  sight  of. 

Even  if  this  is  not  the  case,  the  maintenance  in  its  integrity  and 
power  of  the  political  party  organization  is  regarded  as  so  neces- 
sary for  the  accomplishment  of  the  ends  for  which  it  was  formed 
that  all  means  at  hand  must  be  made  use  of.  What  means  more 
adaptable  and  useful  than  city  governments,  with  their  large  pat- 
ronage, their  fat  contracts,  and  their  great  police  powers,  the 
exercise  of  which  is  necessitated  by  great  aggregations  of  people? 
What  task  more  easy  than  to  persuade  people,  who  are  citizens 
of  the  State  and  nation,  as  well  as  of  the  city,  and  whose  concep- 
tion of  the  possibilities  of  city  life  is  not  a  broad  one,  that  city 
interests,  parochial  interests,  as  they  are  sometimes  called,  must 
give  way  to  the  more  striking,  if  not  more  important,  interests  of 
the  State  and  nation?  Such,  then,  are  briefly  the  reasons  why 
under  our  system  of  government,  State  and  national  political 
parties  desire  to  busy  themselves  with  municipal  politics. 

Our  system  of  government,  however,  not  only  makes  it  thus 
inevitable  that  political  parties  shall  desire  to  enter  into  municipal 
politics;  it  also  affords  ample  opportunities  for  the  parties  to  real- 


FRANK    J.    GOODNOW.  6/ 


ize  their  desires,  and  indeed  tempts  them  to  act  illegitimately  in 
their  interference  with  municipal  matters. 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  in  our  system  of  govern- 
ment the  localities,  and  particularly  the  cities,  act  as  agents  of  the 
State,  discharging  functions  which  interest  the  State  as  a  whole. 
The  only  State  control  over  the  discharge  by  the  localities 
of  these  functions,  whose  development  was  originally  permitted 
by  this  system  was  exercised  by  the  Legislature.  The  absence  of 
large  powers  of  direction  and  control  in  the  higher-  administrative 
officers  of  the  State  government  made  it  necessar}-  for  the  Legis- 
lature to  descend  into  great  details  in  fixing  the  authority  of  sub- 
ordinate authorities  and  officers. 

The  city  as  a  subordinate  State  authority  has  been  treated  as 
any  other  State  authority,  and  has  not  been  recognized  as  possess- 
ing' any  powers  not  granted  by  the  State  Legislature,  while  the 
powers  actually  granted  by  that  body  have  usually  been  enumer- 
ated in  great  detail.  Changes  in  these  powers  made  necessary  by 
changes  in  municipal  development  have  been  made  by  the  Legis- 
lature, and  generally  by  special  acts. 

Now  the  Legislature  is  and  is  properly,  the  most  thoroughly 
political  body  in  the  government.  It  is  the  body  which  must  ulti- 
mately make  the  legal  determination  of  the  policy  of  the  State.  It 
must  be  controlled  by  the  political  party  in  a  majority  in  the 
State.  It  is  therefore  the  very  worst  body  in  the  government  to 
exercise  the  necessary  control  over  cities,  if  it  is  desired  that  city 
government  shall  be  conducted  free  from  the  influences  of  State 
politics. 

For  a  number  of  years  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  been 
becoming  convinced  that  the  exercise  of  this  legislative  control 
was  accompanied  by  great  evils,  and  have  therefore  been  en- 
deavoring to  limit  the  powers  of  control  over  cities  possessed  by 
the  Legislature.  As  a  general  thing  the  plan  adopted  has  been  to 
forbid  in  the  constitution  the  Legislature  to  pass  special  acts  rela- 
tive to  city  afifairs. 

It  can  not  be  said,  however,  that  such  a  method  has  been  suffi- 
ciendy  effective  to  accomplish  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  adopt- 
ed. It  is,  of  course,  true  that  in  some  States  the  constitutional 
prohibition  of  special  legislation  has  done  some  good,  but  gen- 


68  POLITICAL    PARTIES    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


erally  it  has  not  emancipated  the  cities  from  the  control  of  the 
Legislature,  while  in  some  States,  owing  to  the  interpretation 
given  by  the  courts  to  the  words  "special  act,"  the  failure  of  the 
constitutional  prohibition  of  special  leg-islation  to  cities  has  been 
egregious.  The  State  of  Ohio  has  the  unenviable  reputation  of 
standing  at  the  head  in  this  respect. 

The  cause  of  the  failure  of  the  constitutional  prohibition  of  spe- 
cial legislation  is  not,  however,  far  to  seek.  It  is  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  it  has  not  been  accompanied  by  any  change  in  the 
method  of  granting  powers  to  cities.  Ohio  again  may  be  used  to 
point  a  moral.  Its  general  municipal  corporations  act  of  1852 
descended  into  the  greatest  details  as  to  the  powers  of  the  cities  to 
be  organized  under  it.  An  act  which  was  general  only  in  that  it 
nominally  affected  all  cities  could  not  actually  have  any  very  gen- 
eral application.  It  was  soon  amended  by  scores  of  acts  purport- 
ing to  afifect  only  certain  classes  of  cities,  but  actually  affecting 
only  one  city.  These  acts,  although  they  did  not  mention  by  name 
the  city  intended  to  be  affected,  described  it  with  a  minuteness,  it 
has  been  said,  which  would  have  identified  a  fugitive  from  justice. 
The  experience  of  Illinois  furnishes  a  most  useful  illustration  by 
way  of  contrast.  In  1870  its  State  constitution  forbade  special  leg- 
islation with  regard  to  cities;  and  in  1872  when  it  adopted  a  Gen- 
eral Municipal  Corporations  Act,  it  departed  from  the  method  of 
detailed  enumeration  of  powers,  granting  comparatively  large 
powers  to  its  municipalities.  What  has  been  the  result?  Special 
legislation  relative  to  cities  in  Illinois,  while  not  absolutely  a  thing 
of  the  past,  has  been  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

The  prohibition  of  special  legislation  regarding  cities  has  not, 
however,  been  the  only  method  adopted  within  recent  years  by 
the  people  of  the  United  States  to  lessen  the  control  of  the  Leg- 
islature over  cities.  Soon  after  the  passage  of  the  Illinois  Munic- 
ipal Corporations  Act,  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  believing  that 
prohibition  of  special  legislation  had  been  unsuccessful  and  also 
believing  that  their  city  was  being  continually  interfered  with  by 
the  State  Legislature,  obtained  from  the  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion, which  met  in  1875,  the  right,  subject  to  the  constitution  and 
general  laws,  to  draw  up  their  own  charter.  This  privilege  was 
also  conferred    upon   the   other   larger   cities    of  the  State.     The 


FRANK    J.    GOODNOW.  69 


courts  have  been  called  upon  to  interpret  the  meaning  of  this 
privilege,  and,  it  may  be  said  in  a  general  way,  have  decided  that 
it  constituted  the  cities,  which  it  affected,  into  little  independent 
republics,  so  far  as  the  things  were  concerned  in  which  the  State 
as  a  whole  was  not  interested.  Thus,  it  has  been  held  that  a  provi- 
sion of  a  city  charter,  adopted  by  the  people  of  the  city,  relative  to 
parks  could  not  be  in  any  way  amended  by  the  Legislature.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Legislature  has,  even  since  the  adoption  of 
the  constitutional  amendment,  the  right  to  regulate  such  matters 
as  the  police  and  education.  The  plan  adopted  by  Missouri  has 
been  adopted  also  in  California,  Washington,  and  Minnesota. 
Such,  then,  are  the  conditions  in  which  have  developed  both  the 
doctrine  and  the  practice  that  the  national  and  State  parties  shall 
control  municipal  politics. 

What  now  are  the  remedies  whose  application  to  these  condi- 
tions will  justify  the  reasonable  man  in  believing  that  these  condi- 
tions will  be  improved,  and  what  in  particular  has  been  done  in 
the  proposed  municipal  program  toward  applying  the  proper  rem- 
edies? 

If  what  has  been  said  is  true,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  natural 
and  legitimate  desire  of  the  political  parties  to  interfere  with  munic- 
ipal politics  will  be  diminished  either  by  diminishing  the  sphere 
of  State  agency  accorded  to  cities  or  by  subjecting  their  actions  in 
that  sphere  to  an  effective  State  control.  It  is  questiona- 
ble, however,  if  in  the  present  state  of  American  public  opinion 
it  would  be  wise  to  suggest  a  large  diminution  of  the  sphere  of 
State  agency.  It  is  also  questionable  whether  regardless  of  pub- 
lic opinion  such  a  change  would  be  wise.  As  has  been  pointed 
out,  local  management  of  matters  affecting  the  locality,  even  if 
they  do  at  the  same  time  affect  the  State  as  a  whole,  is  probably 
more  liable  to  lead  to  successful  n:anagement  than  is  State  man- 
agement. But  it  is  perfectly  possible,  while  maintaining  such 
local  management,  to  provide  for  a  central  State  control  effective 
enough  to  permit  the  State  government  to  see  to  it  that  local 
standards  are  abreast  of  State  standards.  If  this  is  done  the  legit- 
imate desire  of  State  political  parties  to  interest  themselves  in  mu- 
nicipal politics  will  be  largely  diminished. 


yO  POLITICAL    PARTIES   AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 

Let  me  make  myself  plain  by  some  concrete  examples.  If, 
while  the  city  is  permitted  to  retain  the  management  of  the  police 
who  have  charge  of  the  enforcement  of  a  prohibition  law,  some 
State  administrative  authority  is  given  disciplinary  powers  over 
the  city  police,  the  temptation  of  a  prohibition  party  to  interfere 
with  the  city  government  would  be  diminished.  Again,  if  while 
the  city  is  left  in  control  of  the  schools,  the  city  school  board  is 
subjected  to  the  control  of  a  State  superintendent  of  common 
schools  the  political  party  which  is  interested  in  some  educational 
reform  may  see  to  it  that  such  reform  is  inaugurated  by  getting 
control  of  the  State  superintendent  without  attempting  to  control 
the  local  school  authority. 

Much  has  been  accomplished  in  the  past  twenty-five  years  in 
the  United  States  toward  the  establishment  of  these  central  State 
administrative  authorities,  and  much  good  has  resulted  as  a  study 
of  their  history  and  development  will  show.  All  interested  in  the 
improvement  of  schools,  charities  and  prisons  will  testify  that  the 
establishment  of  State  Boards  of  Education  and  Superintendents 
of  Schools,  and  State  Boards  of  Charities  and  Prisons  has  done 
much  to  take  the  schools,  charitable  institutions  and  prisons  out  of 
politics. 

The  establishment  and  development  of  this  central  administra- 
tive control,  however,  is  a  matter  which  afTects  more  than  city 
government.  It  involves  a  change  in  our  general  scheme  of  State 
government.  The  constitutional  Amendments  and  Municipal  Cor- 
porations Act  in  the  proposed  Municipal  Program  have  not  there- 
fore gone  very  far  in  this  direction.  They  merely  make  provision 
(Constitutional  Amendments,  Art.  Third,  4;  Municipal  Corpora- 
tions Act,  Art.  II,  15,  17)  for  the  establishment  of  a  central  ad- 
ministrative control  over  city  accounts  and  for  the  subjection  of 
cities  in  their  discharge  of  functions,  interesting  the  State  as  a 
whole  to  the  control  of  such  State  administrative  authorities  as 
may  now  be  or  may  hereafter  be  established  by  general  law  ap- 
plicable to  all  the  cities  of  the  State.  In  this  way  it  is  believed  the 
legitimate  desire  of  political  parties  to  control  city  politics  will  be 
diminished. 

What  now  can  be  done  to  prevent  political  parties  from  making 
corrupt  use  of  municipal  patronage  and  powers  to  make  contracts 


FRANK    J.    GOODNOW.  /I 


with  the  end  of  strengthening  their  own  organization?  The  an- 
swer must  be  as  before.  Both  the  temptation  and  the  opportunity 
nwst  be  diminished.  The  temptation  can  be  diminished  by  reduc- 
ing the  amount  of  patronage  in  the  discretionary  disposal  of  ap- 
pointing officers;  by  introducing  order,  regularity,  and  publicity 
in  municipal  accounting  and  by  subjecting  the  bestowal  of  muni- 
cipal franchises  to  limitations  which  will  both  tend  to  prevent  their 
corrupt  grant  and  will  insure  the  city  a  fair  return  for  the  benefits 
conferred. 

In  order  then  to  reduce  the  temptation  to  the  corrupt  use  of  pat- 
ronage the  Constitutional  Amendments  and  Act  provide  (Consti- 
tutional Amendment,  Article  Third,  6;  Municipal  Corporations 
Act,  Art.  IV).  for  most  detailed  civil  service  regulations,  which  it 
is  believed  makes  it  impossible,  so  far  as  legal  provision  can  make 
anything  impossible,  for  appointments  in  the  subordinate  service 
of  the  city  to  be  made  for  political  reasons.  In  pr^^viding  S'uch  de- 
tailed regulations  departure  has  been  made  from  the  general  prin- 
ciple which  an  examination  will  show  pervades  the  draft,  viz.,  that 
the  cities  were  to  be  left  with  great  discretion.  The  departure 
from  this  general  principle  was  believed  in  this  case  to  be  neces- 
sary, because  of  the  desire  to  render  it  as  difficult  as  possible  for 
the  political  party  to  exploit  the  city  and  because  of  the  belief  that 
an  efficient  civil  service  could  be  obtained  only  in  this  way,  and 
that  an  efficient  civil  service  was  a  necessary  prerequisite  to  good 
ciiy  government. 

The  further  endeavor  to  reduce  the  temptations  to  make  use 
of  the  city  patronage  in  the  interest  of  political  parties  has  been 
made  in  the  draft  (Const.  Amend.,  Art.  Third,  6;  Mun.  Corps. 
Act  IV,  1 6)  by  providing  that  no  officer  in  the  subordinate  ad- 
administrative  service  of  tlic  city  shall  have  a  fixed  term,  and  that 
no  city  officer  shall  be  removed  except  for  reasons  to  be  reduced 
to  writing  and  made  a  matter  of  record,  at  the  request  of  the  officer 
removed. 

It  is  believed  that  one  of  the  greatest  temptations  to  make  im- 
proper use  of  municipal  patronage  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that 
most  nxmicipal  officers  at  the  present  time  in  this  country  have 
terms  which  expire  at  a  stated  time.  The  question  of  a  new  ap- 
pointment will  thus  Gi  necessity  frequently  come  up  for  considera- 


72  POLITICAL    PARTIES    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 

tion,  and  pressure  is  inevitably  brought  to  bear  upon  the  appoint- 
ing officer  to  induce  him  to  appoint  some  one  who  has  worked  for 
the  party. 

Ii  has  been  feU  that  the  provision  that  there  should  be  no  fixed 
term  made  it  necessary  to  concede  the  mayor  a  disciplinary  power 
of  removal  unhampered  by  any  limitation  except  the  one  just  men- 
lioned,  and  it  is  believed  that  these  two  provisions  will,  as  a  more 
enlightened  public  opinion  develops,  do  much  toward  diminishing 
the  temptations  of  political  parties  to  exploit  city  government  in 
their  own  intoiests. 

Th^  draft  has  attempted  further  to  reduce  the  temptations  to  an 
improper  use  by  political  parties  of  their  powers,  by  providing 
(Const.  Amend.,  Art.  Third,  4;  Mun.  Corps.  Act,  Art.  II,  15)  for 
a  uniform  system  of  municipal  accounting  under  State  supervision; 
and  (Const.  Amend.,  Art.  Third,  1 ;  Mun.  Corps.,  Art.  II,  10)  that 
no  slrc-^t  franchise  shall  be  granted  for  a  longer  period  than  twen- 
ty-one years,  nor  except  upon  payment  to  the  city  of  compensa- 
tion based  upon  the  gross  receipts  of  the  franchise. 

it  is  believed  that  these  provisions  will  insure  such  publicity 
of  the  city  accounts  and  of  its  relations  with  public  service  corpor- 
ations operating  municipal  franchises,  that  it  will  be  much  more 
difficult  than  at  present  for  political  parties  to  form  those  connec- 
tions with  these  corporations,  which  have  in  the  past  added  so 
much  to  the  strength  of  political  parties  at  the  expense  of  the  high- 
est interests  of  the  city. 

These  are  some  of  the  methods  adopted  in  the  draft  to  diminish 
the  temptations  of  State  and  national  political  parties  to  interfere 
in  :he  management  of  city  government. 

What  now  has  been  done  to  narrow  the  opportunity  of  the  par- 
ties to  interfere?  It  has  already  been  pointed  out  that  one  of  the 
most  favorable  opportunities  for  such  interference  was  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  Legislature — a  body  peculiarly  under  political 
control — had  in  its  hands  the  control  of  the  city.  It  has  also  been 
shown  that  the  attempt  to  prohibit  special  legislation — through 
which  this  control  was  largely  exercised — has  not  been  followed 
by  the  success  which  was  anticipated;  and  that  the  reason  of  this 
comparative  failure  was  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  prohibition 


FRANK    J.    GOODNOW.  73 


of  Special  legislation  had  not  been  accompanied  by  the  grant  of 
latge  powers  to  the  city. 

The  draft  has  (Const.  Amend.,  Art.  Third,  7;  Mun.  Corps.  Act, 
Art.  II)  accordingly  vested  the  city  with  the  widest  powers,  in  the 
hope  that  much  special  legislation  would  thereby  become  unnec- 
essary. Indeed  in  this  respect  the  plan  proposed  makes  the  most 
radical  departure  from  existing  conditions.  It  is  based  on  the 
proposition  that  cities  shall  be  authorities  of  general  rather  than 
of  enumerated  powers,  and  shall  be  subject  to  legislative  control, 
only  in  so  far  as  that  is  exercised  by  means  of  general  laws  ap- 
plicable to  all  the  inhabitants  or  all  the  cities  of  the  State  or  by 
special  laws  passed  in  a  manner  which,  it  is  believed,  will  prevent 
the  passage  of  much  special  legislation,  indeed  of  any  special  leg- 
islation which  is  not  absolutely  needed.  The  purpose  of  granting 
such  wide  powers  of  action  to  cities  is  not  merely  to  make  special 
legislative  action  unnecessary,  and  thus  to  diminish  the  opportuni- 
ty of  the  political  parties  in  the  control  of  the  Legislature  for  inter- 
fering witli  cities  to  their  disadvantage;  it  is  also  to  give  the  peo- 
ple of  the  cities  the  widest  opportunity  for  self-development  and 
to  bring  home  to  them  a  sense  of  responsibility  for  their  own  wel- 
fare. 

The  draft  further  provides  (Const.  Amend.,  Art.  Fourth)  that 
every  city  of  25.000  inhabitants  may  frame  its  own  charter,  subject 
to  the  limitations  that  such  charter  shall  provide  for  a  mayor  and 
council  elected  by  the  people:  that  the  mayor  shall  appoint  and  re- 
move all  other  officers  subject  to  the  obligation  to  appoint  all  of- 
ficers for  fitness  to  be  ascertamed,  as  far  as  practicable,  by  competi- 
tive examinations.  Special  provision  (Const.  Amend.,  Art.  Third, 
3)  :s  made  for  permitting  any  city  to  adopt  the  referendum  and  in- 
itiative and  any  system  of  minority  or  proportional  representa- 
tion. 

It  is,  of  course,  true  that  the  limitations  upon  the  power  of  the 
people  of  the  cities  relative  to  the  kind  of  organization  which  they 
may  adopt,  lessen  very  greatly  their  power  of  framing  their  own 
charter.  Biit  it  has  been  felt  that  while  free  play  might  be  given 
the  people  of  the  cities  as  to  the  details  of  their  city  charters,  it 
was  wiser  to  fix  beyond  the  possibility  of  change  the  general  prin- 
ciples which  should  lie  at  the  base  of  the  municipal  organization. 


74  POLITICAL    PARTIES    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 

Such.  then,  are  the  means  adopted  to  prevent  the  poHtical  par- 
ties in  control  of  the  Legislature  from  making  use  of  the  powers 
of  this  body  over  cities  in  their  own  interest  and  to  the  cities'  dis- 
advantage. No  attempt  has  been  made  to  define  in  the  constitu- 
lion  what  are  municipal  afifairs  which  must  not  be  interfered  with. 
But  care  has  been  taken  to  grant  the  cities  the  widest  possible 
powers,  while  reserving  to  the  Legislature  powers  of  control,  the 
exercise  of  which  is  subject  to  such  conditions  as  make  it  ex- 
tremely improbable  that  special  legislation  can  be  resorted  to  for 
the  accomplishment  of  improper  ends. 

While  the  draft  does  not.  as  has  been  pointed  out,  make  any  very 
extensive  provision  for  the  substitution  of  a  central  administrative 
control  for  the  existing  legislative  control  over  cities,  it  still  does 
allow  of  the  development  of  such  central  administrative  control, 
and  it  is  believed  that,  so  far  as  this  method  of  central  control 
shall  take  the  place  of  special  legislation,  by  so  much  will  the  op- 
portunity for  improper  interference  by  political  parties  with  muni- 
cipal government  be  diminished,  by  so  much  will  municipal  gov- 
ernment be  taken  out  of  politics. 

The  draft  has  finally  attempted  to  provide  a  municipal  organ- 
ization so  simple  in  character  that  municipal  voters  will  place  less 
reliance  than  at  present  on  the  political  parties,  may  more  readily 
than  at  present  separate  municipal  from  State  and  national  issues, 
an.l  may  more  easily  than  at  present  organize,  separate  from  the 
State  and  national  political  parties,  for  the  furtherance  of  these  mu- 
nicip:»'  issues. 

One  or  the  reasons — it  might  almost  be  said  the  reason — why 
tlie  municipal  voter  has  relied  in  the  past  on  the  State  and  national 
parties  to  fill  elective  municipal  offices,  is  to  be  found  in  the  great 
number  of  officers  to  be  elected  at  any  given  election.  If  such  an 
election  be  at  the  same  time  as  a  State  election  the  voter  is  almost 
of  necessity  compelled  to  rely  on  the  political  party  in  which  he  on 
the  whole  puts  his  trust — with  which  he  has  been  in  the  habit  of 
acting.  If  this  condition  of  things  is  further  complicated  by  a 
party  column  blanket  ballot  the  municipal  voter  is  absolutely 
ht.lpless  except  so  far  as  he  is  aided  by  the  political  parties.  The 
draft  therefore  provides,  that  municipal  elections  shall  take  place 
only  once  in  two  years,  and  that  at  each  election  for  distinctively 


FRANK    J.    GOODNOW.  75 


city  officers  no  more  than  two  officers  shall  be  elected,  i.  e.,  the 
mayor  and  members  of  the  council.  When  we  add  to  this  the  pro- 
vision that  municipal  elections  shall  not  be  held  at  the  same  time 
as  State  and  national  elections  (Const.  Amend.,  Art.  First,  3;  Mun. 
Corps.,  Art.  VII,  2)  we  are  justified  in  believing-  that  the  m.unicipal 
voter  will,  if  this  principle  is  incorporated  into  law,  at  the  same 
time  not  need  to  place  the  reliance  he  has  to  place  at  present  on  the 
national  and  State  political  parties,  and  will  be  able  to  vote  not  be- 
cause of  any  influence  which  that  vote  will  have  on  the  future  of 
his  party,  but  because  of  the  influence  he  thinks  it  will  have  upon 
the  municipal  issues  m  which  he  is  interested. 

With  this  same  end  in  view,  provision  has  been  made  (Ibid.) 
for  nomination  for  municipal  office  by  petition  of  a  small  number 
of  citizens,  for  personal  registration,  an  absolutely  secret  vote  and 
a  blanket  ballot  with  the  names  of  candidates  alphabetically  ar- 
ranged under  the  title  of  the  office  and  that  each  voter  shall  vote 
separately  for  each  candidate  for  whom  he  votes.  If  such  meth- 
ods of  nominations  and  elections  are  followed  it  is  believed  that 
voters  may  be  able  in  their  municipal  elections  either  to  break 
away  altogether  from  the  State  and  national  parties  and  form 
separate  municipal  parties,  or  may,  because  of  the  greater  powers 
of  independent  political  action  they  will  possess,  be  able  to  force 
the  local  organizations  of  the  State  and  national  parties  to  fight 
out  c;t>  elections  on  the  basis  of  city  issues.  Whichever  may  be 
the  outcome  is  a  matter  of  little  importance,  provided  an  unbiased 
and  unprejudiced  consideration  of  city  issues  by  the  city  voters  is 
secured. 

Such,  then,  are  the  purposes  of  the  draft,  and  such  has  been  the 
way  in  which  it  has  been  attempted  to  efifectuate  them.  It  has  been 
felt  that  city  government  must,  to  be  efficient,  be  emancipated  from 
the  tyranny  of  the  national  and  State  political  parties,  and  from 
that  of  the  Legislature — the  tool  of  the  party.  It  must,  however, 
be  subject  to  the  proper  control  of  the  State  government  as  the 
representative  of  he  interests  of  the  State.  To  avoid  tyranny  and 
preserve  control  is  not  easy.  The  problem  may  be  solved,  how- 
ever, by  diminishing  both  the  temptations  and  opportunities  for 
tyranny  and  by  throwing  limitations  and  opportunities  of  the  con- 
trol without  destroying  it.     These  temptations  and  opportunities 


76  POLITICAL    PARTIES    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 

have,  it  is  lioped,  been  diminished  by  making  special  legislation 
very  difficult,  by  enlarging  the  powers  of  the  cities,  by  making  the 
control  of  the  city  government  of  little  value  to  the  parties  through 
reduction  of  patronage  and  a  publicity  of  accounts,  and  finally  by 
m?king  it  easy  for  the  city  voter  to  separate  city  from  State  and 
national  issues,  and  to  insist  that  these  city  issues  shall  receive  at- 
tention apart  from  any  considerations  of  national  and  State  poli- 
tics. The  State  control  has  been  preserved,  but  its  exercise  has 
been  taken  from  the  Legislature  and  intrusted  to  administrative 
offir:ers  wherever  it  has  been  felt  that  its  preservation  is  absolutely 
necessarv. 


PUBLIC    OPINION    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT.  "J-J 


PUBLIC  OPINION   AND   CITY   GOVERNMENT 

UNDER  THE  PROPOSED  MUNICIPAL 

PROGRAM. 


Horace  E.  Deming,  New  York  Ciiy. 


Honest,  efficient,  and  progressive  city  government  is  impossible 
in  the  United  States  without  the  support  of  a  strong  public  opin- 
ion. Public  opinion  which  cannot  be  effectively  expressed  and 
carried  out  is,  for  practical  purposes,  non-existent.  No  proposi- 
tion for  the  improvement  of  city  government  in  the  United  States 
is  worth  consideration  that  does  not  provide  for  the  full,  free,  and 
deliberate  expression  of  the  wishes  of  the  voters,  and  for  the  carry- 
ing of  their  wishes  into  effect.  No  scheme  of  city  government 
will  give  promise  of  much  improvement  which  will  not  develop  an 
effective  and  general  interest  among  the  voters  themselves  in  the 
actual  conduct  of  the  public  affairs  of  the  city. 

One  of  the  problems  which  the  proposed  Municipal  Program 
undertakes  to  solve  is  to  provide  a  form  of  city  government  which 
will  compel  the  development  of  this  interest,  and  upon  which  the 
public  opinion  of  the  voters,  when  deliberately  expressed,  will  be 
effective. 

To  some  it  may  seem  a  startling  statement  that,  so  far  at  least 
as  city  government  is  concerned,  there  is  not  only  not  now,  but 
there  has  never  been  a  public  opinion  in  the  United  States  which 
has  either  prevented  or  corrected  the  principal  evils  of  bad  city 
government.  But  how  else  shall  we  account  for  the  fact  that  the 
remedy  for  such  evils  has  almost  invariably  been  to  deprive  the 


Note. — The  papers  of  Messrs.  Horace  E.  Deming,  Frank  J.  Goodnow, 
L.  S.  Rowe  and  Bird  S.  Coler,  together  with  the  principal  papers  read  at  the 
Indianapolis  Conference,  with  the  text  of  the  Municipal  Corporations  Act 
and  the  proposed  Constitutional  Amendment,  will  be  published  in  a  single 
volume  under  the  title  of  "The  Municipal  Program,"  by  Macmillan  Co. 


78  PUBLIC    OPINION    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


city  of  power  to  perform  the  very  functions  which  naturally  be- 
long to  it?  For  example,  the  limitation  of  the  city's  power  to  levy 
taxes  for  city  purposes  is  almost  universal  in  this  country;  the 
public  opinion  of  its  citizens  is  not  deemed  sufficiently  intelligent 
or  effective  to  keep  the  city  from  bankruptcy.  And  how  otherwise 
shall  we  account  for  the  general  resort  by  the  city  to  outside 
agencies  in  order  to  conduct  purely  city  affairs?  Witness  the 
constant  appeals  to  the  State  Legislature  to  remedy  this  or  that 
purely  local  trouble  or  to  create  permanent  or  temporary  boards 
of  officials  to  perform  purely  local  functions.  Even  in  the  elec- 
tion of  the  public  officers  of  the  city,  its  citizens  rely  mainly  upon 
the  agency  of  national  or  State  political  parties.  Where  in  the 
United  States  is  there  a  city  which  possesses  all  the  powers  re- 
quisite to  conduct  its  local  affairs  without  aid  or  interference  from 
the  State  Legislature?  or  whose  elective  officers  are  not  usually 
the  product  of  the  activities  of  national  or  State  political  parties? 
or  in  which  the  framework  of  the  city  government  favors  the  full, 
free,  and  deliberate  expression  of  the  popular  will  as  to  the  con- 
duct of  city  affairs? 

Sufficient  reasons  for  this  lack  of  local  public  spirit  may  be 
found  in  our  political  history. 

From  the  origin  of  our  government  to  almost  the  year  1876  the 
one  great  political  question  that,  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  every 
other,  absorbed  the  attention  of  our  citizens,  was  whether  the 
United  States  were  to  be  a  nation  or  a  federal  league.  From  the 
surrender  of  Cornwallis  to  the  withdrawal  of  the  Union  troops  from 
the  Southern  States  after  the  Civil  War,  the  public  had  neither 
time  nor  inclination  to  consider  problems  of  administration.  It 
was  not  til!  the  decade  from  1876  to  1886  that  the  importance  of 
good  administration'  to  good  government  began  to  attract  public 
attentionat  all  effectively.  The  centuryof  political  travail  which  had 
given  birth  to  our  national  life  left  behind  it,  moreover,  political 
habits  of  thought  and  political  methods  of  action  which  have  made 
improvement  in  public  administration  difficult  and  slow.  City 
government,  more  than  either  national  or  State  government,  is 
an  administrative  problem.  Until  i860  our  cities  were  few  and 
small ;  we  may  be  almost  said  to  have  had  no  cities.  What  won- 
der, then,  that,  if  there  be  not  yet  an  enlightened  public  opinion 


HORACE    E.    DEMING.  79 


sufficiently  strong  to  compel  the  administrative  service  of  the 
State  or  of  the  nation  to  be  conducted  upon  an  efficient  and  eco- 
nomical plan,  there  should  also  be  lacking  the  enlightened  public 
opinion  to  compel  honest,  efficient,  and  progressive  city  govern- 
ment? 

Another  historical  reason  for  the  lack  of  city  public  spirit  has 

been  the  marked  influence  of  the  political  theory  of  division  of  the 
fundamental  powers  of  government  among  many  different  offi- 
cials. The  constitutional  scheme  of  government  devised  by  the 
fathers  was  one  of  checks  and  balances.  A  President,  a  Senate,  a 
House  of  Representatives,  and  a  Supreme  Court,  each  the  product 
of  a  different  electorate  or  appointing  body,  and  each  vested  with 
different  functions,  were  set  the  one  against  the  other  to  conduct 
the  government.  Only  a  portion  of  the  population  could  take  any 
direct  part  in  selecting  the  rulers  of  the  country.  Even  this  lim- 
ited class  had  no  direct  voice  in  the  selection  of  President  or  Sen- 
ators. The  Supreme  Court  was  appointed  by  the  President.  Rep- 
resentatives held  office  for  two  years,  the  President  for  four  years, 
Senators  for  six  years.  A  manifest  tendency  of  such  a  plan  was 
to  produce  inefficient  administration  and  a  government  not  re- 
sponsive to  the  popular  will.  The  division  of  power  among  so 
many  different  officers  and  the  different  sources  from  which  these 
officers  derived  their  authority,  dissipated  responsibility  for  offi- 
cial conduct.  And,  since  the  nearest  approach  of  the  government 
to  the  people  was  the  election  of  members  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives by  the  limited  class  possessing  the  suffrage,  those  in 
charge  of  the  practical  conduct  of  public  affairs  were  without  di- 
rect responsibility  to  the  people. 

From  the  very  beginning,  the  character  of  the  questions  which 
compelled  attention  in  the  field  of  national  politics  aroused  in- 
tense popular  interest;  and  the  struggle  on  the  part  of  the  people 
for  a  more  direct  voice  in  public  affairs  and  to  create  a  government 
whose  policy  should  be  in  more  immediate  accord  with  the  popu- 
lar will,  led,  among  other  things,  to  the  abolishing  of  restrictions 
upon  the  suffrage  and  to  the  forming  of  political  parties,  whose 
adherents  developed  a  partisanship  the  more  intense  because  of 
the  difficulties  placed  by  the  Constitution  in  the  way  of  responsible 
and  efficient  g^overnment. 


80  PUBLIC   OPINION    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


The  political  doctrine  that  the  fundamental  governmental  pow- 
ers should  be  apportioned  among  many  different  officials  was 
combined  with  a  firm  belief  in  the  beneficent  political  effect  of  fre- 
quent elections  for  short  fixed  terms,  in  order  to  insure  that  no 
man  could  stay  long  in  public  place  without  the  continued  ap- 
proval of  the  body  electing  him. 

These  political  doctrines  made  against  administrative  efficiency 
in  public  affairs.  Their  evil  effects  upon  the  administrative  side  of 
our  national  government  have  been  very  marked.  Further  com- 
plicated by  the  intrusion  of  absorbing  and  irrelevant  questions  of 
national  politics,  the  natural  result  of  their  application  to  our  city 
governments  has  been  the  chaotic  irresponsibility  so  characteristic 
of  most  of  them.  The  more  officials  to  be  elected  and  the  more 
frequent  the  elections,  the  less  efficient  was  the  administration  of 
city  affairs,  and  the  enlargement  of  the  suffrage  only  served  to  ag- 
gravate the  evils  inherent  in  the  system  itself  as  applied  to  city 
government,  which  is  in  its  very  nature  principally  an  administra- 
tive problem.  When  cities  were  few  and  small,  and  their  admin- 
istration comparatively  simple,  the  evils  were  not  perceived,  and 
so  universal  and  so  firm  was  the  behef  in  the  political  doctrines 
of  divided  powers  and  frequent  elections,  that  as  the  cities  multi- 
plied and  grew  in  size  and  their  administrative  problems  increased 
in  complexity,  in  variety,  and  in  number,  more  elective  offices 
were  created,  until  the  very  multitude  of  offices  and  elections  de- 
stroyed the  possibility  of  a  city  government  responsible  to  its  citi- 
zens or  of  the  existence  of  an  effective  public  opinion  as  to  the 
conduct  of  city  affairs. 

Other  causes  have  co-operated  to  produce  inefficient  and  irre- 
sponsible government  of  our  cities,  but  these  facts  of  our  political 
history  are  a  sufficient  explanation  of  the  general  lack  of  active 
and  effective  interest  by  the  citizens  in  the  public  affairs  of  their 
city. 

The  very  considerable  favor  with  which  the  Czar  or  good  father 
theor>'  of  city  government  has  met  in  recent  jears  is  a  natural  re- 
action from  the  disappointment  in  the  practical  working  of  the 
political  doctrines  of  divided  power  and  frequent  elections  for 
short  terms  of  numerous  officials.  Under  the  Czar  or  good  father 
plan,  the  mayor  is  a  benevolent  despot,  the  local  legislature  be- 


HORACE   E.    DEMING.  8 1 


comes  a  vanishing  quantity,  and  the  pubHc  poUcy  of  the  city  as 
well  as  the  details  of  its  administration  are  determined  by  the 
mayor,  either  directly  or  through  subordinates  appointed  by  him. 
Carried  to  its  logical  conclusion,  this  theory  of  city  government 
would,  according  to  its  most  earnest  supporters,  eliminate  the 
State  as  well  as  the  city  legislature  from  the  local  field.  But  a  be- 
nevolent despotism  may  easily  become  malevolent;  and  paternal- 
ism, even  elective  paternalism,  can  neither  develop  nor  permit  to 
be  developed  a  healthy  and  enlightened  popular  interest  in  public 
affairs.  A  fatal  defect  in  this  new  plan  is  that  there  is  no  provision 
for  a  representative  body,  elected  by  the  people,  to  determine  the 
local  public  policy.  Without  the  opportunity  to  determine  such 
questions  for  themselves,  through  their  own  representatives,  there 
can  never  be  developed  among  the  citizens  an  enlightened  and  effi- 
cient public  opinion  as  to  the  conduct  of  the  city  government. 
The  effort  which  this  system  makes  to  do  away  with  the  existing 
chaos  of  irresponsibility  deserves  respectful  consideration;  but 
despotism,  benevolent  or  malevolent,  hereditary  or  elective,  is 
foreign  alike  to  American  political  traditions  and  to  American 
political  tendencies. 

City  government  must  be  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people,  through  their  chosen  representatives, 
in  order,  on  the  one  hand,  to  develop  a  general  popular  interest 
in  the  local  public  affairs,  and,  on  the  other,  to  make  this  interest 
effective.  In  other  words,  city  government  must  be  a  representa- 
tive democracy,  if  the  public  opinion  of  its  citizens  is  to  control 
its  conduct. 

The  most  persistent  factor  in  the  political  development  of  the 
United  States  has  been  and  is  the  growth  of  the  belief  in  repre- 
sentative democracy,  and  the  increase  of  intelligent  effort  to 
make  the  belief  an  accomplished  fact.  The  stream  of  political 
tendency  in  that  direction  is  stronger  and  more  evident  to-day 
than  at  any  previous  period  in  our  history.  The  framework  of 
government  imbedded  in  our  national  Constitution  prevented  the 
general  public  from  having  any  direct  voice  in  the  administration 
of  the  government.  The  voters  were  a  limited  class  set  apart  from 
the  general  body  of  the  citizens.  This  select  class  chose  members 
of  the  lower  house  of  Congress  and  elected  still  smaller  and  more 


82  PUBLIC    OPINION    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


select  classes,  who  in  their  turn  elected  the  President  and  Senators. 
Government  was  removed  from  the  people.  It  was  not  responsi- 
ble to  the  people  nor  responsive  to  their  will.  The  struggle  for  a 
government  that  should  be  responsible  to  the  people  and  respon- 
sive to  their  will,  in  spite  of  the  constitutional  difficulties,  has  gone 
on  ever  since.  The  continued  existence  of  the  government  has 
been  due  not  so  much  to  the  perfection  of  the  governmental  ma- 
chinery contained  in  the  constitution,  as  to  extra-constitutional 
and  extra-legal  devices  through  which  the  general  public  has 
sought  and  in  considerable  measure  secured  a  direct  voice  in  the 
conduct  of  public  affairs.  The  line  of  political  development  in  the 
United  States  leads  directly  toward  representative  democracy  as 
the  form  of  government  best  adapted  to  our  needs.  It  is  the  re- 
cognition of  this  fact  that  inspires  municipal  reformers  with  the 
confidence  that  honest,  efficient,  progressive  city  government  in 
this  country  is  a  certainty  in  a  future  not  far  distant. 

Our  efforts  must  be  toward  making  city  government  a  genuine 
representative  democracy.  No  immovable  constitutional  barriers 
stand  in  the  way.  There  need  be  no  resort  to  extra-constitutional 
or  extra-legal  devices  in  order  to  make  a  simple  form  of  govern- 
ment which  shall  be  alike  responsible  and  responsive  to  the  people 
and  which  shall  do  away  with  the  present  conditions,  so  universal 
in  the  cities  of  the  United  States — a  form  of  government  that  pre- 
vents both  the  effective  expression  of  public  opinion  and  the  de- 
velopment of  any  public  opinion  to  be  expressed. 

Let  us  now  test  the  provisions  of  the  proposed  Municipal  Pro- 
gram. Upon  the  one  hand,  does  it  furnish  the  requisite  govern- 
mental m.achinery,  through  which  a  strong  and  enlightened  public 
opinion  will  necessarily  be  developed?  And,  upon  the  other,  does 
it  insure  the  effectiveness  of  public  opinion  deliberately  formed 
and  expressed?  If  the  program  fails  in  either  respect  it  is  worth- 
less. 

The  City  Under  the  Proposed  Municipal  Program. 

The  city's  independence  is  guaranteed.  The  State  Legislature 
cannot  meddle  with  purely  local  affairs.  Its  functions,  so  far  as 
cities  are  concerned,  are  confined  to  passing  laws  applicable  to  all 


HORACE    E.    DEMING.  83 


cities  or  all  inhabitants  of  the  State,  unless  the  necessity  or  pro- 
priety of  legislative  action  in  the  case  of  a  particular  city  is  so  clear 
that  a  special  law  receives  the  affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  all 
the  members  of  the  Legislature  and  is  formally  approved  by  the 
council  of  the  city,  or,  if  disapproved,  is  within  thirty  days  after 
such  disapproval,  again  passed  by  a  two-thirds  vote,  which  must 
include  three-fourths  of  the  members  from  districts  outside  of  the 
city  concerned.-^ 

The  city  must  manage  its  own  affairs.  No  outside  authority 
can  interfere  with  it.  The  city  is  vested  with  ample  power  to  man- 
age its  own  affairs.  It  may  acquire,  hold,  manage,  and  control 
property.  Within  its  corporate  limits  it  has  the  same  powers  of 
taxation  as  are  possessed  by  the  State;  it  may  license  and  regulate 
all  trades,  occupations,  and  businesses;  it  is  vested  with  power  to 
perform  and  render  all  public  services,  and  with  all  powers  of  gov- 
ernment subject  to  the  State  constitution,  and  to  laws  applicable 
to  all  cities  of  the  State  or  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  State.  It  may 
establish  minor  courts  for  the  enforcement  of  its  ordinances.^ 
The  city,  not  the  State  Legislature,  controls  the  granting  of  pub- 
lic franchises  within  the  city's  limits.^  It  may  incur  indebtedness 
up  to  a  certain  percentage,  limited,  upon  the  assessed  valuation  of 
the  real  estate  within  its  limits,  but  debt  incurred  for  self-supporting 
undertakings,  which  also  take  care  of  the  current  interest  and  of 
the  principal  of  the  debt  at  maturity,  are  not  included  in  the  con- 
stitutional limitation.^ 

Contrast  this  ample  grant  of  powers  with  the  helpless  condition 
of  a  city  which  may  not  even  control  its  street  franchises  or  the 
paving  of  its  streets. 

Guaranteed  its  independence,  nay,  compelled  to  act  for  itself, 
and  clothed  with  ample  powers  to  manage  its  own  afifairs,  with 
what  machinery  is  the  city  equipped  to  conduct  its  independent 
life?  The  business  function  of  administration  and  the  purely  polit- 
ical function  of  determining  the  public  policy  to  be  administered 


1  Constitution,  Art.  Third,  Sec.  7. 

2  Constitution,  Art.  Third,  Sec.  5. 
^  Constitution,  Art.  Third,  Sec.  i. 
*  Constitution,  Art.  Third,  Sec.  2. 


84  PUBLIC    OPINION    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 


are  intrusted  to  entirely  separate  agencies.  The  former  is  given 
wholly  to  the  mayor  and  his  appointees  who  hold  office  without 
fixed  terms.  The  members  of  the  subordinate  administrative 
service  must  be  appointed  and  promoted  upon  the  merit  principle. 
Prompt  dismissal  from  the  service  follows  failure  to  perform  their 
duties.^ 

All  purely  political  functions  are  performed  by  the  council,  sub- 
ject to  the  limited  veto  power  of  the  mayor.^ 

The  council  is  the  local  legislature  elected  by  popular  vote  on 
a  general  ticket  from  the  city  at  large,  one-third  of  the  council  be- 
ing elected  at  each  city  election.^ 

There  are  no  gerrymandered  election  districts.  The  council 
has  no  patronage  to  dispense.  Its  membership  is  reasonably  per- 
manent, and  a  continuous  public  policy  in  important  city  matters 
is  made  possible.  The  council  may  establish  any  office  necessary 
or  expedient  for  the  conduct  of  the  city  business  or  government 
and  may  fix  its  salary  and  duties.**  It  has  absolute  initiative  in  all 
public  matters  except  as  to  the  annual  budget  of  current  expenses, 
which  must  be  submitted  by  the  mayor.  Any  item  in  the  budget 
may  be  reduced  or  omitted  by  the  council,  but  it  cannot  be  in- 
creased.^ The  council  is  the  grand  committee  of  the  citizens 
chosen  by  them  for  the  purpose  of  determining  and  regulating  all 
questions  of  city  policy.  It  chooses  the  city  controller,  who  holds 
office  without  fixed  term,  and  is  the  city's  chief  financial  officer, 
clothed  with  most  important  functions.^  The  registration  of 
voters,  the  absolute  secrecy  of  the  act  of  voting  are  guaranteed." 

Nominations  for  mayor  and  for  members  of  the  council  must 
be  made  by  petition,  and  the  voter  must  vote  separately  for  each 
candidate  for  whom  he  desires  to  vote.^ 


5  Constitution,  Art.  Third,  Sec.  6,  Corporations  Act,  Art.  IV.,  Sec.  i6. 

«  Corporations  Act,  Art.  V.,  Sec.  i. 

'  Corporations  Act,  Art.  V.,  Sec.  2. 

*  Corporations  Act,  Art  V.,  Sec.  8. 

'  Corporations  Act,  Art.  III.,  Sec.  7. 

1"  Corporations  Act,  Art.  III. 

11  Constitution,  Art.  First,  Sees,  i  and  2. 

12  Constitution,  Art.  First,  Sec.  3. 


HORACE    E.    DEMING.  85 


The  members  of  the  council  and  the  mayor  are  the  only  city 
officials  elected  by  popular  vote,  and  their  election  must  occur  at 
a  different  date  from  State  or  national  elections.^ 

The  council,  if  its  action  is  ratified  by  the  citizens,  may  estab- 
lish a  method  of  direct  legislation,  so  that  the  voters  may  submit. 
and  a  majority  thereof  voting  thereon  may  decide  by  direct  vote 
upon  propositions  relative  to  city  matters.  In  like  manner  mi- 
nority or  proportional  representation  as  to  elections  to  elective 
city  offices  may  be  established.^  On  a  duly  authenticated  peti- 
tion therefor,  the  questions  whether  direct  legislation  or  minority 
or  proportional  representation  shall  be  established  must  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  voters  for  decision,  without  previous  favorable  ac- 
tion by  the  council.^  The  citizens  of  a  city  having  a  population 
of  twenty-five  thousand  or  more  may,  through  a  local  charter 
convention  elected  by  themselves,  if  its  action  is  ratified  by  them, 
have  a  charter  and  frame  of  government  of  their  own  devising, 
subject  alone  to  the  fundamental  provisions  of  the  State  constitu- 
tion.* 

In  city  elections  there  will  be  neither  need  nor  excuse  for  the 
antiquated,  cumbrous,  and  complicated  election  methods  now  in 
use.  Candidates  for  but  two  offices  will  be  voted  for,  and  the 
nomination  of  the  candidates  must  be  by  petition.  The  ballot 
will  be  simple.  The  voter  will  not,  confused  by  the  multiplicity  of 
offices  and  candidates,  be  forced  to  rely  upon  the  guidance  of  the 
managers  of  his  political  party.  He  votes  separately  for  each 
candidate  for  whom  he  desires  to  vote.  The  secrecy  of  his  vote  is 
guaranteed. 

Such  in  brief  outline  is  the  city  under  the  proposed  Municipal 
Program.  It  is  a  representative  democracy.  Unable  to  resort  to 
outside  assistance  and  secure  against  outside  interference,  com- 
pelled to  work  out  their  own  local  destiny,  clothed  with  ample 
powers  to  manage  the  city's  business,  its  citizens  are  guaranteed 
that  the  public  policy  which  they  favor  will  be  the  policy  of  the 
city  government;  the  very  necessity  of  the  case  will  develop  an 

*  Constitution,  Art.  Third,  Sec.  6,  Art.  Finst,  Sec.  3. 

2  Constitution,  Art.  Third,  Sec.  3. 

3  Constitution,  Art.  Third,  Sec.  3. 

*  Constitution,  Art.  Fourth. 


86  PUBLIC    OPINION    AND    CITY    GOVERNMENT. 

enlig-htened  public  opinion,  which  will  determine  the  public  policy. 
In  such  a  g-oV^ernment  the  will  of  the  people  when  deliberately  ex- 
pressed will  control,  and  the  people  cannot  escape  expressing 
their  will.     The  people  are  the  government. 

The  conditions  which  create  and  continue  the  tyranny  of  the 
present  type  of  political  party  managers  are  abolished,  simple 
methods  of  nomination  and  election  are  established,  and  a  form 
of  city  government  is  created  which  compels  the  conduct  of  city 
affairs  to  be  at  all  times  in  accord  with  enlightened  public  opinion. 


A  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRAM.  87 


A  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  NEW  MUNICIPAL 
PROGRAM. 


John  A.  Butler. 

President,  Milwaukee  Municipal  League. 


The  time  has  arrived  in  this  country  when,  on  many  sides,  the 
conditions  of  commercial  and  poHtical  Hfe  are  becoming  seriously 
complex,  and  the  consequent  tendency  to  confusion  is  great.  There 
is  confusion  between  politics  and  business,  between  national  poli- 
tics and  city  aflfairs,  and  between  the  methods  of  politics  and  the 
l)opular  conception  of  the  character  and  purpose  of  governmental 
machinery  and  processes.  There  was  a  time,  perhaps,  early  in  our 
history,  when  politics  did  no  great  harm  in  city  government,  if 
they  had  more  than  a  nominal  existence  there.  Government  by 
town  meeting  was  simple  obvious  and  direct,  in  small  communi- 
ties; but  even  intelligent  men  readily  lose  the  thread  of  things  in 
the  great  cities  of  the  present.  There  is  a  perpetual  and  conspicu- 
ous confusion  between  mere  profitable  expediency  and  the  dictates 
of  principle,  owing  to  the  absence  of  proper  lines  of  leading  and 
guidance,  and,  as  a  result,  transactions  that  are  fundamentally  vi- 
cious are  constantly  entered  into  and  consummated  by  men  of 
high  integrity.  They  are  often  surprised  and  dumfounded  when 
they  realize  the  actual  condition  of  things,  as  in  the  case  of  a  num- 
ber of  railway  officials,  a  few  years  ago,  who  organized  themselves 
into  construction  companies  and  sold  newly  constructed  branch 
lines  to  themselves  as  officers  of  the  main  road,  at  a  great  profit. 
They  probably  did  not  realize  what  they  were  doing,  although 
there  was  only  one  opinion  on  the  subject  among  all  good  lawyers. 
In  his  brilliant  speech  at  the  trust  conference  in  Chicago,  Mr. 
Burke  Cochran,  although  a  corporation  attorney,  described  similar 
conditions  in  connection  with  public  service  companies,  with  the 
utmost  vividness  and  force,  and  placed  special  stress  upon  the 
moral  sanitation  of  publicity.     Such  tendencies  prevail  conspicu- 


88  A    GENERAL    VIEW    OF   THE    PROGRAM. 


onsly  in  the  relation  of  city  officials  to  each  other,  to  individual 
business  men,  and  especially  to  the  holders  of  municipal  fran- 
chises ;  and  this  is  no  doubt  largely  due  to  the  absence  of  that  gui- 
dance which  comes  from  carefully  devised  and  well  developed  mu- 
nicipal machinery;  in  other  words,  a  good  and  practical  charter. 
No  one  would  willingly  admit  that  the  American  people  is  lack- 
ing in  honesty.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  no  people  which  pos- 
sesses higher  or  more  genuine  ethical  standards,  to  say  the  least, 
and  yet  the  wonder  is,  not  that  corruption  exists  in  politics  and 
business  but  that  under  existing  circumstances,  without  the  checks 
which  exist  in  other  cotmtries,  it  is  not  far  more  extensive  than  it 
is.  This  is  particularly  true  in  cities,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  a  very 
large  proportion  of  corruption  in  business  arises  from  confused 
relations  with  city  politics,  and  city  politics  are  certainly  largely 
associated  with  corrupt  business  and  contaminated  thereby  in  the 
same  way.  One  of  the  main  reasons  why  politics  are  so  corrupt  is 
because  they  are  so  complicated  and  full  of  indirection,  and,  con- 
sequently, so  unfamiliar  to  the  people  in  general  in  their  actual 
w^orkings.  This  is  eminently  characteristic  of  city  politics,  not  only 
because  the  system  is  so  complex  and  cumbersome,  but  because 
the  guiding  idea  of  party  principle,  the  people's  north  start  in  na- 
tional aflfairs,  operates  in  municipal  politics  as  a  fatal  ignisfatuus  for 
the  multitude  of  enthusiastic  party  men,  who,  with  ideas  as  confus- 
ed as  possible,  elect  unworthy  municipal  representatives  only  be- 
cause they  appear  to  be  the  standard  bearers  of  this  or  that  na- 
tional party  banner.  There  is,  of  course,  something  which  leads 
to  this  confusion,  and  prevents  the  formation  of  that  accurate  and 
well  directed  popular  opinion  which  made  government  by  town 
meeting  a  success,  and  a  perfect  reflection  of  the  high  average 
quality  of  the  people  at  large;  and  its  removal  will  ensure  good  city 
government  in  every  community  which  deserves  it.  It  is  the  want 
of  exact  popular  knowledge  of  the  processes  of  government,  and 
the  ends  to  be  attained.  Either  the  people  ought  to  be  taught  to 
understand  the  scheme  and  workings  of  city  government,  in  the 
public  schools,  so  that  when  they  become  voters  they  will  readily 
recognize  all  the  processes  and  perversions  of  municipal  politics 
and  administration,  and  thus  be  enabled  to  effectively  bring  the 
force  of  an  accurately  formed  public  opinion  to  bear  upon  wrong 


JOHN    A.    BUTLER.  Sq 


doing;  or  those  processes  should  be  simplified  in  such  a  way  that 
they  can  be  readily  understood  and  protected  from  abuse  under 
existing  conditions  of  political  knowledge.  The  people  are  enti- 
tled, preoccupied  as  they  are  with  a  thousand  and  one  business  in- 
terests, to  conditions  in  which  there  shall  be  no  confusion  as  to  the 
exact  nature  of  the  city's  powers  and  lines  of  work ;  the  exact  point 
of  demarcation  between  those  powers  and  the  powers  and  func- 
tions of  the  State;  the  exact  location  of  responsibility  on  the  part 
of  city  officials;  the  exact  nature  of  their  relations  to  each  other 
and  to  the  holders  of  franchises;  and  the  exact  nature  and  condi- 
tion of  the  city's  finances  and  accounts:  and  the  moment  such  con- 
ditions exist,  and  the  entire  system  of  finances  and  administration 
is  simplified  so  that  comprehension  of  all  its  workings  is  prompt 
and  perfect,  that  moment  the  difficulties  of  the  city  problem  will 
be  swept  away  with  a  rapidity  and  certainty  that  will  leave  us  in 
wonder  that  popular  apathy  was  ever  regarded  as  the  cause,  in- 
stead of  the  result  of  existing  municipal  conditions,  in  which  noth- 
ing is  certain  in  the  popular  mind,  except  that  work  is  imperfectly 
done,  direct  responsibility  is  almost  unknown,  and  there  is  no  ap- 
parent remedy. 

Now  the  clarifying  and  simplifying  value  of  the  new  charter  can- 
not be  overestimated.  It  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon  the  entire 
municipal  situation  by  its  brevity,  its  close  adherence  to  definitely 
ascertained  principles,  and  the  publicity  which  must  arise,  in  con- 
nection with  city  finances  and  the  relations  of  franchise  holders  to 
the  city  government,  from  the  application  of  its  provisions.  It 
both  simplifies  the  municipal  machinery,  and,  in  its  clarity  and  pre- 
cise definition,  educates  the  popular  mind  to  a  point  where  the  peo- 
ple must  and  will  realize  that  a  remedy  is  at  hand,  which  will  en- 
sure deliverance  from  most  of  the  evils  from  which  American  cities 
suffer,  wherever  such  deliverance  is  deserved.  That  deliverance 
will  come,  however,  in  most  communities  only  after  a  preliminary 
educational  stage,  for  which  the  charter  itself,  and  the  committee's 
report  are  most  admirably  fitted. 

We  all  know  how  true  it  is  that  the  city  exercises  manv  powers 
merely  as  the  delegated  agent  of  the  State,  and  that  the  Legisla- 
ture, the  central  political  body  of  the  State,  must  and  should,  as 
long  as  the  present  system  remains  unmodified,    extend  its  con- 


90  A  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRAM. 

trolling  influence  into  city  politics.  It  is  in  the  interest  of  the  na- 
tional party  in  the  State  to  control  municipal  appointments  in  the 
city  in  order  to  enforce  its  own  policies.  It  is  interested  in  mu- 
nicipal elective  officials  for  the  same  reason,  and  it  is  fair  to  infer 
that  great  progress  toward  the  elimination  of  party  politics  from 
the  city  can  be  made  by  the  establishment  of  central  State  boards 
of  discipline  and  control;  in  other  words,  by  the  State's  influencing 
the  management  of  its  own  business  in  the  city  solely  through  an 
executive  instead  of  legislative  and  necessarily  political  channel. 

We  all  realize  profoundly  the  far-reaching  value  of  a  well  defin- 
ed municipal  civil  service  system,  even  at  the  worst,  in  defeating 
party  appointments  in  the  city,  and  certainly  no  one  will  deny  the 
great  value  of  the  provision  in  the  new  charter  which  reduces  the 
elective  officials  to  the  mayor  and  the  members  of  a  small  council 
elected  in  thirds,  in  eliminating  "politics"  in  the  unfortunate  sense 
of  the  word.  Then  there  is  the  master  idea  of  local  legislative  in- 
dependence and  local  responsibility,  with  the  new  civic  pride  and 
patriotism  which  would  naturally  grow  out  of  it,  involved  in  the 
nearly  total  abolition  of  special  legislation  by  a  constitutional  pro- 
vision. Add  to  this  nomination  by  petition  only,  the  virtual  aboli- 
tion of  party  conventions,  and  a  blanket  ballot  without  a  party  col- 
umn in  it,  and  we  realize  that  we  are  contemplating  a  great  and 
ingenious  document,  splendid  in  its  simplicity  and  unity  of  opera- 
tion, and  nearly  certain  in  its  detailed  provisions  alone  to  bring 
about  a  condition  of  things  in  which  "party"  in  the  old  sense  of  the 
term  will  have,  at  the  most,  a  nominal  existence  in  city  govern- 
ment. Yet  great  and  valuable  as  the  charter  is,  in  that  respect, 
there  is  an  important  sense  in  which  it  is  a  mere  instrument  in  the 
hands  of  a  people  confused  and  hopeless  to  the  point  of  lethargy 
and  inaction,  but  capable  and  desirous  of  fighting  the  battle  of  mu- 
nicipal regeneration  and  development  the  moment  a  path  of  de- 
liverance has  been  opened  up  before  it.  Above  and  beyond  any 
mechanical  efficacy  in  the  document  itself,  and  the  legislation  like- 
ly to  be  based  upon  it,  is  its  power  to  fully  inform  the  people  about 
their  government  and  bring  them  abreast  of  their  opportunities  and 
duties;  and  its  value  in  thus  clarifying  and  simplifying  municipal 
processes,  and  enabling  the  people  to  take  their  own  afifairs  into 
their  own  hands  intelligently  and  effectively,  is  of  the  greatest  pos- 


JOHN    A.    BUTLER.  9' 


sible  importance.  It  enables  the  people  to  successfully  take  their 
bearings  and  themselves  eliminate  national  and  State  issues  from 
purely  municipal  affairs,  as  they  alone  can  do.  Thus  much  for  the 
educational  value  and  adequacy  of  the  instrument,  but  important 
as  those  characteristics  are,  equal  importance  must  be  attached,  in 
endeavoring-  to  attain  results,  to  what  may  be  called  the  attitude 
and  spirit  in  which  it  was  drafted  and  has  been  presented  to  the 
people,  and  I  will  be  pardoned  if  I  consider  this  of  almost  primary 
importance  in  the  effort  to  eliminate  "politics"  from  the  city,  be- 
cause, say  what  we  may,  wherever  the  charter  is  adopted  it  must 
have  its  baptism  of  fire  at  the  hands  of  politicians ;  State  politicians, 
legislators,  if  you  will,  but  politicians  after  all.  and  bound  by  many 
ties  of  sympathy  and  interest  to  the  merest  bread  and  butter  poli- 
ticians in  the  wards  of  our  great  cities.  If  the  charter  is  adopted 
it  must  be  adopted  through  the  instrumentality  of  such  men. 

In  what  has  thus  far  been  said,  the  idea  has  been  intended  to 
be  conveyed  that  the  people  will  welcome  the  charter  as  an  instru- 
ment of  progress  when  they  fully  understand  it,  and  the  best  class 
of  politicians  with  them,  and  our  experience  in  Wisconsin,  in  plac- 
ing its  provisions  first  before  a  convention  of  the  mayors  of  twen- 
ty or  more  cities  and  subsequently  explaining  its  merits,  by  invi- 
tation, before  the  State  League  Municipalities  to  say  nothing  of 
the  favor  accorded  the  charter  by  leading  men  in  Wisconsin  gener- 
ally, fully  bear  me  out  in  that  impression.  The  same  impression 
was  produced  by  its  reception  in  the  Committee  on  Cities  of  the 
Wisconsin  Assembly  last  winter,  in  the  form  of  an  amendment 
to  the  Milwaukee  charter.  Its  final  endorsement  after  several  ses- 
sions of  discussion  was  unanimous,  but  I  should  add  that  the  com- 
mittee reported  it  for  passage  subject  to  the  condition  that  it  should 
be  submitted  to  the  voters  of  Milwaukee  before  going  into  effect. 
It  failed  to  pass,  as  I  learn  on  good  authority,  owing  to  certain 
hostilities  that  arose  from  the  Senatorial  deadlock  between  cer- 
tain members  of  the  committee  and  their  fellows.  Now.  nearly  all 
those  who  unequivocally  endorsed  the  charter  in  its  original  form, 
or  in  our  Milwaukee  amendment,  on  the  various  occasions  refer- 
red to,  were  politicians  (excepting  popular  indorsements,  of 
course),  which  I  am  disposed  to  regard  as  a  proof  of  their  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  liberal  minded  municipal  reformers,  in  the 


92  A  GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  PROGRAM. 

framing  of  the  charter  and  in  its  advocacy,  are  seeking  to  remedy 
the  evils  of  a  system,  rather  than  to  ride  a  crusade  against  the  great 
body  of  politicians,  who,  on  the  whole,  average  as  highly  as  any 
other  body  of  citizens. 

Having  repeatedly  presented  the  separate  features  of  the  new 
charter  in  my  own  State,  and  discussed  them  in  some  detail  at  the 
last  annual  meeting  of  this  body,  and  not  possessing  the  ability  of 
the  able  member  of  our  committee  from  Columbia  University  to 
give  to  the  retelling  of  an  old  story  even  more  than  the  novelty 
incident  to  its  first  rehearsal,  I  am  sure  I  will  be  forgiven  for  pass- 
ing with  rapidity  over  many  of  its  details  on  this  occasion.  In- 
deed, it  is  due  to  myself,  as  well  as  to  him,  to  say  that  his  cogent, 
logical  and  exhaustive  consideration  of  the  subject  has  made  it  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  to  find  a  foothold  at  any  point,  or  any  essential 
fragment  of  the  charter  which  he  has  not  made  it  unnecessary  to 
discuss.  There  is  however  one  feature,  the  importance  of  which 
in  enabling  the  city  to  free  itself  from  the  grasp  of  the  very  worst 
class  of  mere  bread  and  butter  politicians,  and  from  the  very  worst 
form  of  legalized  robbery,  cannot  be  overestimated  or  overempha- 
sized. I  refer  to  the  local  control  of  the  holders  of  franchises,  the 
obligation  of  such  holders  to  submit  to  an  examination  of  their 
finances  at  frequent  intervals,  not  by  a  State  official,  like  the  State 
railroad  commissioner,  but  by  the  comptroller  of  the  city  in  which 
the  franchises  are  granted.  It  might  also  be  well  to  require  that 
certain  city  officials  should  be  admitted  to  a  sort  of  ex-officio  mem- 
bership in  the  Board  of  Directors  of  franchise  holding  companies. 
The  time  limit  of  twenty-one  years  is  also  of  the  very  greatest  im- 
portance as  a  guaranty  of  perfect  control,  and  to  enable  the  city  to 
meet  new  conditions  and  adopt  new  policies  as  occasion  demands. 
The  obligation  to  pay  a  certain  amount  per  mile  of  track  in  the  case 
of  street  car  lines  might,  in  my  opinion,  be  advantageously  added 
to  the  requirement  that  some  graded  percentage  of  the  gross  re- 
ceipts be  paid  annually  into  the  city  treasury. 

We  have  had  a  long  and  unfortunate  experience  in  Milwaukee 
with  our  street  car  company  and  understand  to  the  full  how  great 
and  serious  the  influence  of  street  car  and  electric  light  companies 
can  be.  For  many  years  one  of  the  chief  officers  in  each  of  two 
companies  holding  franchises  in  Milwaukee  has  been  the  political 


JOHN    A.    BUTLER.  93 


"Boss"  of  his  party  in  the  city  and  State,  and  they  have  ruled  both 
the  city  and  the  State  separately  and  together,  and  until  the  rela- 
tions of  such  companies  to  the  city  are  absokitely  and  definitely 
fixed  beyond  the  possibility  of  their  doingf  harm,  it  will  always  be 
in  their  interest  and  power  to  control  elections  in  order  to  get  their 
own  men  into  office,  or  they  will  endeavor  to  control  a  sufficient 
number  of  councilmen  and  State  legislators  subsequent  to  their 
election  to  accomplish  their  ends. 

Let  me  illustrate  as  briefly  as  possible  both  the  spirit  and  meth- 
ods of  such  organizations  by  a  practical  example.  The  proper- 
ties of  the  present  Milwaukee  Electric  Light  and  Railway  Com- 
pany, exclusive  of  the  interurban  lines,  nominallv  managed  by  a 
different  company,  but  turning  their  profits  into  the  same  general 
coffers,  are  valued  at  about  fotirteen  millions.  A  bill  was  success- 
fully passed  in  the  Legislature  a  few  years  ago  reducing  their  taxes 
to  about  $20,000  a  year.  Of  course,  the  people  were  outraged,  and 
a  year  or  two  afterwards  the  taxes  were  with  the  greatest  difticulty 
raised  to  something  like  $60,000.  In  1896,  when  the  spirit  of  agi- 
tation was  strong,  the  road  expressed  a  willingness  to  grant  the 
people  an  unconditional  four-cent  fare.  Nothing  came  of  it,  as 
nothing  has  come  of  various  similar  propositions,  although,  in  the 
interval  between  the  reduction  of  the  company's  taxes  and  the  four- 
cent  fare  controversy,  there  had  been  a  serious  and  violent  strike 
in  which  the  people  generally  sympathized  with  and  aided  the 
strikers,  and  a  city  government  had  been  elected  to  secure  a  four- 
cent  fare.  At  the  present  time  the  old  controversy  has  again  arisen. 
An  elaborate  ordinance,  which  plainly  bears  ear-marks  indicating 
the  astute  suggestions  of  the  companies'  leading  official  and  his 
able  attorneys,  has  been  introduced  in  the  council,  offering  an  im- 
m.ediate  four-cent  fare  to  workingmen  and  a  general  four-cent  fare 
at  the  end  of  five  years.  For  this  is  asked  the  grant  of  twelve  new 
franchises  and  a  ten  years  extension  of  the  road's  present  fran- 
chise, the  principal  ones  of  which  now  extend  to  1924.  This  prop- 
osition, nominally  arising  in  the  city  government,  certainly  had 
its  origin  in  the  railway  company,  and  trusting  to  the  renewed  gen- 
eral prosperity,  and  the  forgetfulness  of  the  people,  the  road  is 
making  an  heroic  effort  to  secure  its  ends,  with  great  expectations 
of  success. 


94 


A    GENERAL    VIEW    OF   THE    PROGRAM. 


Misleading  interviews  with  business  men  have  been  secured  by 
its  agents  and  widely  published  as  a  guide  to  public  opinion,  and 
the  railway  committee  in  the  council,  with  the  exception  of  one 
man.  is  in  favor  of  the  road.  Representatives  of  the  league  and 
two  daily  papers  have  pointed  to  the  example  of  Toronto  and  ar- 
gued the  matter  before  the  council  committee  with  little  avail,  ex- 
cept that  the  original  proposition  of  a  four-cent  fare  at  the  end  of 
eighteen  years  has  been  changed  to  five  years.  Thus  much  of  the 
grasping  and  extravagant  demands  of  the  road,  and  its  efforts  to 
smother,  misrepresent  and  control  the  public  opinion  of  the  city. 

Now  as  to  some  of  the  results  of  such  a  condition  of  things,  I 
need  only  say  that  I  have  been  repeatedly  told  by  merchants  that 
thev  did  not  dare  to  come  out  openly  for  fear  of  serious  injury  to 
their  business,  either  in  direct  sales  to  the  road,  or  because  they 
feared  their  business  with  State  and  city  institutions  would  be  de- 
stroyed by  the  bread  and  butter  order  of  politicians  in  sympathy 
with  it. 

A  great  mass  meeting  was  held  Tuesday  evening  under  the  au- 
spices of  the  Municipal  League  of  Milwaukee,  and  the  situation 
thoroughly  gone  over,  but  the  result  still  hangs  in  the  balance. 
Now,  under  existing  conditions,  and  with  present  municipal  ma- 
chinery, it  is  possible  for  great  public  companies  to  elect  their  own 
men  to  the  council,  browbeat  the  people  and  degrade  city  govern- 
ment upon  a  basis  of  practical  robbery,  and  unless  the  utmost  strin- 
gency of  supervision  is  everywhere  insisted  upon,  together  wdth 
the  utmost  publicity  of  corporation  accounts,  and  the  most  definite 
and  comprehensive  arrangements  established  between  the  city  and 
such  companies,  even  the  better  councils  under  the  new  charter 
may  fall  in  some  degree  into  the  toils  of  corporate  rapacity.  The 
provisions  of  the  new  charter,  however,  faithfuly  carried  into  ef- 
fect, must  do  away  with  a  vast  amount  of  damaging  and  most  in- 
sidious political  corruption.  The  features  of  the  document  which 
favor  strict  control  of  franchise  holding  companies  not  only  tend 
to  purify  politics,  and,  with  other  things,  exclude  them  from  city 
government  by  depriving  the  pothouse  politician  of  those  golden 
opportunities  which  alone  lead  him  into  politics,  and  to  their  forti- 
fication in  the  city,  but  they  also  tend  to  liberate  merchants  who 
sell  to  public  institutions,  and  who  now  stand  in  such  awe  of  the 


JOHN    A.    BUTLEK.  g$ 


lower  order  of  politicians  that  they  cannot  take  an  independent  at- 
titude in  favor  of  reformed  city  g-overnment  without  suffering  the 
infliction  of  serious  financial  loss,  and,  in  my  belief,  tyranny  of  that 
kind  is  one  of  the  causes  of  an  apathy  which  is  only  apparent. 

The  separation  of  legislative  and  executive  powers  in  the  char- 
ter, and  the  definite  location  of  each  with  certain  and  clearly  de- 
fined responsibility,  together  with  the  abolition  of  patronage 
through  municipal  civil  service,  takes  away  the  prizes,  opportuni- 
ties to  let  corrupt  contracts  without  danger  of  punishment,  which 
have  always  attracted  spoilsmen  to  municipal  office,  and  it  is  rea- 
sonable to  believe  that,  with  the  spoils  removed,  it  will  not  only 
be  possible  to  secure  good  municipal  servants  who  will  not  be  in- 
terested in  protecting  party  in  the  city,  but  it  will  be  practically 
impossible  to  be  subjected  to  bad  municipal  servants,  who  will  have 
to  look  for  other  and  more  kicrative  fields  for  profit. 

I  wish  to  refer  in  closing,  to  a  pleasing  though  purely  specula- 
tive hope  excited  by  reading  of  conditions  in  the  rich  and  very  ar- 
istocratic city  of  Toronto,  and  contrasting  them  with  those  which 
prevail  in  many  cities  in  the  United  States.  In  Milwaukee  and 
other  American  cities  the  great  majority  of  those  who  vigorously 
oppose  excessive  privileges  on  the  part  of  public  service  companies 
are  the  poor.  In  fact,  opposition  to  them  in  some  cities  produces 
social  ostracism.  In  Toronto  the  suffrage  is  limited  and  the  entire 
control  of  the  city  is  in  the  hands  of  the  wealthy  classes,  and  yet  it 
is  just  in  Toronto  and  similar  cities  that  the  relations  of  the  city  to 
the  holders  of  franchises,  and  particularly  street  car  companies,  and 
the  forced  relation  of  such  companies  to  the  people  is  most  per- 
fect, just,  and  democratic. 

Now  is  it  too  much  to  expect  that  when  our  merchants  are  freed 
from  the  despotism  of  the  petty  city  politician,  the  same  high  level 
of  intelHgence,  local  patriotism  and  just  feeling,  will  become  ap- 
parent among  the  wealthy  men  of  the  cities  of  the  United  States? 


^6  THE    POWER    TO    INCUR    INDEBTEDNESS. 


THE  POWER  TO  INCUR  INDEBTEDNESS  UNDER 
THE  PROPOSED  MUNICIPAL  PROGRAM. 


Honorable  Bird  S.  Coler, 

Controller,  New  York  City, 


The  effect  of  constitutional  limitations  upon  the  debt-incurring 
capacity  of  cities  has  recently  been  a  matter  of  extreme  practical 
importance  to  the  City  of  New  York.  None  of  the  municipal  cor- 
porations which  were  consolidated  by  the  Greater  New  York 
Charter  into  the  City  of  New  York,  as  now  constituted,  had  ex- 
ceeded its  constitutional  limit  of  indebtedness  at  the  time  of  con- 
solidation. Nevertheless,  the  effect  of  consolidation  was  to  create 
a  new  city,  the  indebtedness  of  which  considerably  exceeded  the 
limitation  in  the  Constitution  of  the  State  of  New  York,  of  ten 
per  cent,  of  the  value  of  its  real  estate  as  assessed  for  purposes  of 
taxation.  The  reason  for  this  was  that  the  limitation  in  question 
appHed  separately  to  the  indebtedness  of  the  counties  included 
within  the  territorial  limits  of  Greater  New  York  and  to  the  muni- 
cipal corporations  included  within  it.  For  example,  at  the  date  of 
consolidation  the  City  of  Brooklyn  had  a  debt  practically  equal  to 
the  maximum  permitted  by  the  Constitution,  whereas  the  county 
of  Kings,  which  was  territorially  identical,  had  a  debt  of  nearly 
$15,000,000.  The  Greater  New  York  Charter  made  all  indebted- 
ness, including  the  county  debts,  a  part  of  the  common  debt  of  the 
new  city,  so  that  the  effect  of  the  annexation  of  Kings  County  and 
the  City  of  Brooklyn  to  the  City  of  New  York  was  to  reduce  the 
debt-incurring  capacity  of  the  new  city  by  nearly  $15,000,000. 
The  same  results  were  also  obtained  in  a  less  degree  from  the  an- 
nexation of  the  counties  of  Queens  and  Richmond. 

I  do  not  mean  to  dwell  upon  the  debt-limit  difificulties  which 
beset  the  financial  administration  of  the  new  City  of  New  York 
during  the  first  eighteen  months  of  its  existence.  We  were  theo- 
retically— though  not,  of  course,  practically — bankrupt.    The  city 


BIRD    S.    COLER.  97 


had  exhausted  its  credit  within  the  constitutional  limitation,  and 
could  only  continue  in  business  on  a  system  of  cash  payments. 
These  difficulties  have  now  been  surmounted,  first  through  a 
large  increase  in  the  assessed  valuation  of  real  estate,  principally 
in  the  limits  of  the  old  City  of  New  York;  and,  secondly,  through 
the  adoption  at  the  recent  election  of  a  constitutional  amendment 
eliminating  the  county  indebtedness  of  the  four  counties  of  New 
York,  Kings,  Queens,  and  Richmond,  from  computation  in  ascer- 
taining the  debt  limit  of  the  city. 

One  effect  of  these  difficulties  has  been  to  make  the  general 
public  quite  familiar  with  this  constitutional  provision,  and  to  ex- 
cite an  amount  of  public  discussion  in  regard  to  its  merits  and  de- 
merits which  would  not  otherwise  have  been  possible.  Advocates 
of  consolidation  had  written  many  eloquent  articles  describing 
the  great  possibilities  for  modernizing  and  improving  the  City  of 
New  York,  so  that  it  might  become  foremost  among  the  imperial 
cities  of  the  world.  It  was  found,  however,  that  consolidation, 
with  its  enormously  increased  public  duties  and  responsibilities, 
instead  of  carrying  with  it  an  increase  in  the  power  to  issue  bonds 
to  meet  these  responsibilities,  actually  brought  about  a  diminu- 
tion of  that  power. 

I  hope  that  this  reference  to  the  increased  public  duties  and  re- 
sponsibilities resulting  from  consolidation  will  not  be  regarded  as 
mere  phrase-making.  This  change  in  conditions  is  a  real  one  and 
vital,  as  a  single  illustration  will  show. 

Prior  to  consolidation  the  building  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
bridges  across  the  East  River  was  regarded  as  a  pleasant  dream, 
belonging,  as  a  great  English  novelist  has  said,  "to  the  avenue  ot 
wishes  leading  to  the  golden  mists  beyond  imagination."  To-dav 
how  different  are  the  conditions!  If  Greater  New  York  is  to  be 
one  city  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name,  intercommunication  between 
its  several  boroughs  must  be  made  as  easy  as  physical  conditions 
will  permit,  almost  regardless  of  cost.  If  consolidation  had  really 
any  sensible  meaning  or  purpose,  that  purpose  was  the  upbuilding 
of  a  city  of  homes  at  more  equal  distances  than  at  present  from 
the  centre  of  commercial  activity.  Prior  to  consolidation  these 
bridges  were  but  dreams,  because  the  taxpayers  of  Manhattan 
Island  would  not  build  them,  and  the  communities  on  the  other 


98  THE   POWER   TO   INCUR    INDEBTEDNESS. 

side  of  East  River  could  not.  To  refuse  to  build  them  now  would 
be  to  declare  that  consolidation  has  failed  of  its  primary  and  most 
important  practical  object.  Yet  the  cost  of  these  bridges  is  enor- 
mous. Including-  the  land  necessary  for  approaches,  twelve  mil- 
lions of  dollars  each  is  a  moderate  estimate  of  the  average  cost. 

The  demands  made  to-day  upon  the  public  purse  for  public  im- 
provements in  the  great  modern  cities  of  the  world  would  astound 
the  publicists  of  past  generations.  The  ever-increasing  cost  and 
complexity  of  urban  life  is  nowhere  better  exemplified  than  in  the 
demand  for  increased  assumption  of  public  utilities  by  govern- 
ment. A  city  that  does  not  respond  to  this  demand  is  provincial, 
is  not  a  metropolis.  Paris  has  been  regarded  as  the  typical  modern 
city.  It  certainly  was  the  first  to  make  widely  extended  use  of  its 
credit  for  public  improvements.  And  this  fact  has,  by  most  ob- 
servers, been  cited  with  approval  and  as  a  cause  of  its  greatness. 
How  does  the  bonded  debt  of  the  City  of  Paris  compare  with  that 
of  New  York?  The  present  net  funded  debt  of  the  City  of  New 
York  is  $253,000,000;  the  bonded  debt  of  Paris  is.  in  round  fig- 
ures, two  billions  of  francs,  or,  say,  $400,000,000.  Yet  New  York 
to-day  is  incomparably  the  richer  city,  and  better  able  to  sustain 
the  larger  debt. 

In  the  argument  I  am  about  to  make  for  a  more  liberal  policy 
aflfecting  a  city's  power  to  issue  bonds,  I  wish  to  state  clearly  my 
appreciation  of,  and  adherence  to,  the  wisdom  of  constitutional 
restrictions  on  the  indebtedness  of  cities.  These  restrictions  are  to 
be  found  in  the  constitutions  of  nearly  all  our  States,  and  have 
been  upheld  both  in  letter  and  in  spirit  by  the  decisions  of  our 
courts.  They  have  undoubtedly  served  to  prevent  the  financial 
ruin  of  many  small  cities,  which  in  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  po- 
litical adventurers  would  otherwise  have  undergone  the  same  dis- 
astrous experiences  as  befell  the  City  of  Elizabeth  in  days  gone  by. 
Yet  this  constitutional  limitation  has  itself  its  limitations.  It 
should  not  be  made  a  fetish  to  be  worshiped  blindly  at  the  expense 
of  really  necessary  progress. 

In  the  competition  which  exists  to-day  between  nations  and 
cities,  as  well  as  between  individuals,  to  stand  still  means  to  retro- 
grade, and  if  it  should  happen  that  a  choice  must  be  made  between 
stopping  the  modernization  of  New  York  and  amending  the  Con- 


BIRD    S.    COLER.  99 


stitution  I  am  in  favor  of  the  latter  course,  provided  no  real  dan- 
ger to  the  city's  credit  and  solvency  be  thereby  threatened. 

I  believe  the  clause  in  the  Constitution  limiting-  municipal  in- 
debtedness— wholly  admirable  at  the  time  it  was  written — is  not 
altogether  adapted  to  modern  requirements,  in  that  it  does  not  dis- 
criminate sufificiently  between  two  classes  of  city  debts  of  a  wholly 
different  character. 

A  city  issues  bonds  only  for  permanent  improvements,  the  ben- 
efits of  which  inure  to  posterity.  But  there  are  two  classes  of  these 
improvements,  easily  distinguishable  from  one  another,  and  be- 
tween which  a  sharp  distinction  should  be  drawn. 

In  one  of  these  classes  are  improvements  which,  while  adding 
to  the  attractiveness,  beauty,  and  healthfulness  of  a  city,  to  its 
economical  administration,  or  to  the  better  conduct  of  its  govern- 
mental functions,  bring  in  no  direct  financial  returns.  This  is  by 
far  the  more  numerous  class,  and  embraces  such  usual  works  as 
the  erection  of  public  buildings,  including  schools,  the  acquisition 
of  parks,  and  the  repaving  of  streets.  No  matter  how  great  the 
material  benefits  may  be  that  are  derived  from  such  improve- 
ments the  expense  incurred  is  unquestionably  a  financial  burden 
upon  the  taxpayers.  In  regard  to  such  expenditures  there  can  be 
no  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  establishing  an  arbitrary  constitu- 
tional limit,  since  otherwise  the  burdens  that  might  be  thrown 
upon  succeeding  generations  by  excessive  issues  of  bonds  would 
become  intolerable. 

There  is  another  class  of  improvements,  however,  far  less  com- 
mon, which  either  result  in  casting  no  burdens  whatever  upon  the 
taxpapers  or  else  bring  in  an  actual  profit  to  the  municipality.  In 
such  cases  it  may  be  permissible  to  ask  wherein  there  lies  any  ra- 
tional excuse  for  limiting  the  governmental  activities  of  a  city  by 
constitutional  restrictions.  A  dim  recognition  of  this  truth  seems 
already  to  have  found  expression  in  the  Constitution  of  New 
York,  which  partially  excepts  from  the  operation  of  the  debt  lim- 
itation bonds  issued  to  provide  for  the  supply  of  water,  and  re- 
quires only  that  a  special  sinking  fund  be  established  for  their  ulti- 
mate redemption.  Why  this  exception?  Because  pure  water  is  a 
prime  necessity  for  the  health  of  a  community?  Scarcely,  for. 
there  are  many  other  public  necessities  paid  for  by  the  issue  of 


lOO  THE    POWER   TO    INCUR    INDEBTEDNESS. 


bonds  which  are  hardly  less  imperatively  needed  by  the  people, 
and  as  to  such  the  Constitution  is  silent.  The  reason  must  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  for  the  past  century,  by  a  universal  custom 
which  has  the  force  of  unquestioned  law,  it  has  been  the  practice 
of  cities  owning  water-works  to  charge  consumers  for  the  water 
supplied,  and  that  the  rentals  received  from  the  operation  of  this 
natural  monopoly  have  almost  invariably  shown  a  profit  over  the 
expense  of  maintenance  and  operation.  In  other  words,  bonds 
issued  to  provide  for  the  supply  of  water  are  not  a  real  burden 
upon  the  taxpayers,  since  the  water  rents  received  pay  the  inter- 
est on  these  bonds,  amortize  the  principal,  and  still  yield  a  profit 
to  the  city. 

If,  as  I  beUeve,  this  principle  is  absolutely  sound,  there  is  no 
reason  why,  in  these  days  of  highly  developed  municipal  func- 
tions, its  application  should  be  limited  to  the  matter  of  water  sup- 
ply, simply  because  generations  ago  that  constituted  the  only  form 
of  municipal  ownership  known  to  our  forefathers.  I  will  try  not 
to  wander  too  far  into  the  seductive  field  of  municipal  ownership ; 
but  there  are  two  illustrations  of  the  principle  I  have  just  alluded 
to  which,  in  the  City  of  New  Yory,  are  practical  questions  of  the 
day.  I  refer  to  the  construction  of  the  Rapid  Transit  Railroad 
and  the  proper  development  of  our  dock  system. 

As  is  well  known,  the  proposed  contract  for  the  construction  of 
the  Rapid  Transit  road  provides  for  its  completion  by  the  con- 
tracting company  for  a  specified  sum  to  be  named  in  the  bid.  This 
sum  is  to  be  paid  by  the  city  to  the  contractor  in  installments,  as 
the  work  progresses.  The  same  contracting  company  is  bound 
by  the  terms  of  the  contract  and  is  under  heavy  bonds  to  operate 
the  road  for  a  term  of  fifty  years,  paying  to  the  city  as  rental  the 
annual  interest  on  the  bonds  issued  by  the  city  to  pay  for  the  road, 
and  one  per  cent,  additional  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  sink- 
ing fund  for  the  liquidation  of  the  bonds  at  the  expiration  of  the 
lease.  Thereafter  the  road  becomes  the  unincumbered  property 
of  the  city. 

A  more  advantageous  contract  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  Here 
is  a  case  where  the  bonds  issued  by  the  city  are  in  no  real,  prac- 
tical sense  a  debt  at  all.  There  is  absolutely  no  burden  thrown 
upon  the  taxpayers;  on  the  contrary,  the  city  will  ultimately  ac- 


BIRD   S.    COLER.  lOI 


quire  without  cost  an  asset  of  inestimable  value.  Why  should  the 
Constitution  hinder  the  city  from  entering  into  enterprises  of  this 
character? 

The  question  of  the  development  of  our  dock  system 
is,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  even  more  important  than  the 
construction  of  the  Rapid  Transit  Railroad.  No  one  who  is 
impartial  and  has  really  studied  the  matter  can  seriously  deny  that 
the  municiplization  of  the  New  York  City  docks,  tardily  and  in- 
sufficiently as  it  has  been  carried  on,  has  been  advantageous  to  the 
city.  No  city  in  the  world  is  circumstanced  similarly  to  New  York 
in  respect  to  its  water  front  privileges.  But  the  acquisition  of 
dock  property  by  the  city  has  proceeded  at  a  snail's  pace.  In  the 
fierce  commercial  competition  which  exists  to-day  between  the 
great  ports  on  the  Atlantic  coast  of  this  country  New  York  has 
been  badly  handicapped  by  lack  of  wharfage  room  and  transporta- 
tion facilities  incidental  thereto.  So  grave  has  the  situation  be- 
come that  a  State  Commission  has  been  created  to  examine  into 
the  causes  of  and  remedies  for  the  decline  in  the  commerce  of  this 
port.  A  danger  of  this  kind  defies  exaggeration.  All  else  we 
might  lose,  but  the  loss  of  our  commercial  primacy  spells  disaster. 
If  this  threatened  disaster  is  to  be  averted,  the  acquisition,  im- 
provement, and  control  of  dock  property  by  the  city  should  be 
made  a  matter  of  public  agitation,  and  entered  into  at  once  in  a 
vigorous,  comprehensive  manner.  Excellent  plans  have  been 
devised  for  improving  the  water  front  of  the  city,  for  constructing 
docks  equal  to  those  of  Liverpool,  and  for  providing  proper  means 
for  transportation  and  transshipment  along  the  lines  of  the  city's 
marginal  streets.  But,  thus  far,  the  cost  has  proved  prohibitive. 
Prohibitive,  however,  only  for  one  reason — the  obstruction  of  the 
Constitution.  If  it  can  be  shown — and  it  can  be — that  the  money 
expended  for  these  dock  improvements  would  not  prove  a  real 
debt,  burdensome  to  the  taxpayer,  but  rather  an  advance  or  loan 
made  by  the  city,  and  certain  to  be  repaid,  principal  and  interest, 
within  the  lifetime  of  this  generation,  with  an  enormous  profit  be- 
sides, who  would  be  such  a  slave  to  conservatism  as  to  dispute  the 
wisdom  of  amending  the  Constitution  so  as  to  make  this  great 
improvement  possible? 


I02  THE    POWER   TO    INCUR    INDEBTEDNESS. 


Our  people  do  not  properly  realize  the  profits  which  the  city  de- 
rives from  its  docks.  The  bonds  issued  by  the  city  in  recent  years 
to  pay  for  the  acquisition  and  improvement  of  dock  property  have 
borne  an  average  interest  charge  of  about  3^  per  cent,  per  annum. 
Up  to  1895  the  Dock  Department  had  spent  the  sum  of  $6,508.- 
291.50  in  acquiring  and  improving  private  property,  from  which 
the  annual  rentals  received  amounted  to  $462,226.54,  or  7  i-io 
per  cent,  per  annum  on  the  total  outlay.  This  would  represent  a 
profit  over  the  interest  charge  on  such  bonds  of  more  than  a  quar- 
ter of  a  million  dollars  per  annum,  or  sufficient  to  redeem  the 
principal  of  the  bonds  in  less  than  twenty  years,  notwithstandiag 
the  fact  that  the  outlay  referred  to  includes  the  large  expense  of 
widening  and  paving  West  Street. 

Since  1895  the  Dock  Department  has  conducted  important  con- 
demnation proceedings  in  the  vicinity  of  Bank  and  Bethune 
streets  on  the  North  River  to  provide  piers  of  extraordinary  length 
for  the  use  of  the  large  transatlantic  steamship  lines.  Owing  to  the 
peculiar  topography  and  development  of  this  locality,  the  cost  of 
these  proceedings  was  greater  than  any  heretofore  attempted,  or 
likely  to  be  undertaken  in  the  future. 

The  blocks  of  ground  condemned  were  covered  by  large  fac- 
tories with  extensive  fixtures  and  machinery,  which  had  to  be  paid 
for  by  the  city,  and  then  torn  down  and  removed.  Afterward  the 
ground  upon  which  these  buildings  stood  had  to  be  dredged  out 
to  a  sufficient  depths  for  the  slips,  which  was  a  heavy  expense 
not  ordinarily  incurred.  This  was  followed  by  the  construction 
of  a  masonry  bulkhead  wall  and  the  erection  of  piers.  The  total 
outlay  connected  with  this  improvement  was  $7.5^6.841.60,  upon 
which  the  annual  interest  charge  is  $244,947.35.  The  rentals  re- 
ceived amcM.mt  to  $370,206.52,  which  shows  an  annual  profit  of 
$125,259.17. 

Ordinarily  the  city  does  not  have  to  acquire  the  upland  prop- 
erty abutting  on  the  water  front,  so  that  this  improvement  makes 
the  least  favorable  financial  showing  for  the  Dock  Department 
that  could  be  exhibited.  Nevertheless,  the  annual  profit  is  suffi- 
cient to  redeem  the  bonds  issued  in  thirty-five  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  the  city  will  be  probably  $10,000,000  richer  by  the 
operation. 


BIRD    S.    COLER.  IO3 


To  adhere  slavishly  to  the  fetish  of  a  constitutional  provision  in 
the  lig-ht  of  such  a  showing  as  this  is  to  shut  the  door  of  fate  in  the 
face  of  our  city's  future.  If  New  York  City  is  to  occupy  the  posi- 
tion of  commercial  supremacy  to  which  its  past  history  and  its 
natural  advantages  entitle  it,  we  must  reason  about  these  matters 
like  intelligent  adults,  and  not  like  children  still  enmeshed  in  the 
prejudices  of  early  teaching. 

Our  constitutions  should  be  amended  so  as  to  except  from  the 
limitation  on  the  indebtedness  of  cities  bonds  issued  to  provide  for 
improvements — which,  while  governmental  in  their  character  are, 
nevertheless,  essentially  business  enterprises — and  from  the  opera- 
tion of  which  profits  can  be  derived  sufficient  to  provide  a  speedy 
amortization  of  the  indebtedness  temporarily  incurred. 


I04  PUBLIC    ACCOUNTING. 


PUBLIC  ACCOUNTING  UNDER  THE  PROPOSED 
MUNICIPAL   PROGRAM. 


Professor  L.  S.  Rowe, 

University  of  Pennsylvania. 


Whatever  may  be  the  influence  of  the  Municipal  Program 
on  the  administrative  organization  and  methods  of  our 
American  cities,  the  very  fact  of  its  formulation  marks  a  turning 
point  in  the  history  of  reform  movements  in  the  United 
States.  The  most  serious  charge  to  which  reform  associa- 
tions have  been  subjected  has  been  that  their  efforts  were 
confined  to  destructive  criticism,  and  that  they  have  failed  to  fur- 
nish a  positive  basis  for  political  reorganization.  Any  one  who 
has  carefully  observed  the  movement  of  popular  opinion  during 
recent  years  cannot  fail  to  have  been  impressed  with  ihe  danger 
involved  in  this  growing  distrust  of  the  ability  of  reform  move- 
ments to  meet  the  practical  problems  of  American  political  life. 

To  make  the  energy,  which  is  being  lavishly  expended  by  such 
large  numbers  of  devoted  citizens  really  effective,  requires  the 
substitution  of  a  positive  program  for  negative  criticism.  Not 
only  are  the  shortcomings  of  our  city  gvernments  to  be  dwelt 
upon,  but  the  positive  measures  necessary  for  the  improvem.ent 
of  existing  conditions  must  be  formulated.  To  do  this  requires 
the  most  careful  consideration  of  the  general  principles  as  well  as 
the  technical  details  of  every  department  of  municipal  administra- 
tion. In  the  various  subdivisions  of  public  accounting,  pioneer 
work  must  be  done,  owing  to  the  absence  of  any  general  apprecia- 
tion of  the  close  relations  between  systematic  public  accounting, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  administrative  efficiency  on  the  other. 

The  provisions  for  public  accounting  in  the  Municipal  Program 
may  for  purposes  of  convenience  be  grouped  as  follows: 


L.    S.    ROWE.  105 

The  content,  arrangement,  and  publication  of  financial  reports. 

Constitutional  Amendment,  Article  Three,  Sec.  4. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Two,  Sec.  15. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Six,  Par.  9. 
The  financial  control  over  records  and  expenditures. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Six,  Par   i,  6,  7,  8. 
The  accounts  of  municipal  industrial  enterprises. 

Constitutional  Amendment,  Article  Three,  Sec  2,  Par.  4. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Two,  Sec.  14,  Par.  4. 
The  accounts  of  guarantees  of  franchises. 

Constitutional  Amendment,  Article  Three,  Sec.  i,  last  par. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Two,  Sec.  10. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Six,  Sec.  — ,  Par.  2,3,  4  and  5. 


The  Content,' Arrangement,  and  Presentation  of  Financial 

Reports. 

Constitutional  Amendment,  Article  Three,  Sec.  4. 

"  Every  city  shall  keep  books  of  account.  It  shall  also  make  stated  fin- 
ancial reports  at  least  as  often  as  once  a  year  to  the*  in  accordance  vith 
forms  and  methods  prescribed  by  him,  which  shall  be  applicable  to  all 
cities  within  the  State  ;  such  reports  shall  be  printed  as  a  part  of  the  public 
documents  of  the  State,  and  submitted  by  the*  to  the  Legislature  at  its  next 
regular  session.  Such  reports  shall  contain  an  accurate  statement  in  sum- 
marized form  and  also  in  detail,  of  the  financial  receipts  of  the  city  from  all 
sources,  and  of  the  expenditures  of  the  city  for  all  purposes,  together  with 
a  statement  in  detail  of  the  debt  of  sa'd  city  at  the  date  of  said  report,  and 
of  the  purposes  for  which  such  debt  has  been  incurred,  as  well  as  such  other 
information  as  may  be  required  by  the*.  Said*  shall  have  power  by  him- 
self, or  by  some  competent  person  or  persons  appointed  by  him,  to  examine 
into  the  affairs  of  the  financial  department  of  any  city  within  the  State.  On 
every  such  examination  inquiry  shall  be  made  as  to  the  financial  condition 
and  resources  of  the  city,  and  whether  the  requirements  of  the  constitution 
and  laws  have  been  complied  with,  and  into  the  methods  and  accuracy  of 
the  city's  accounts,  and  as  to  such  other  matters  as  the  said*  may  prescribe. 
The*  and  every  such  examiner  appointed  by  him  shall  have  power  to  admin- 
ister an  oath  to  any  person  whose  testimony  may  be  required  on  any  such 
examination  and  to  compel  the  appearance,  attendance,  and  testimony  of 
any  such  person  for  the  purpose  of  any  such  examination,  and  the  produc- 
tion of  books  and  papers.  A  report  of  each  such  examination  shall  be 
made,  and  shall  be  a  matter  of  public  record  in  the  office  of  said*." 

*  State  Controller  or  other  fiscal  officer. 


I06  PUBLIC    ACCOUNTING. 


Municipal  Corporatiofis  Act,  Article  Two,  Sec.  15. 

Essentially  the  same  as  Article  Three,  Section  4,  of  the  Constitutional 
Amendment  cited  above,  with  the  additional  provision  that  the  financial 
reports  of  the  city  shall  be  certiSed  as  to  their  correctness  by  the  fiscal 
officer  of  the  State,  or  some  competent  person  or  persons  appointed  by  him^ 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Six,  last  T[. 

"The  City  Controller  shall  on  or  before  the  15th  day  of  January  in  each 
year,  prepare  and  transmit  to  the  City  Council  a  report  of  the  financial 
transactions  of  the  city  during  the  calendar  year  ending  the  31st  day  of 
December  next  preceding,**  and  of  its  financial  condition  on  said  31st  day 
of  December.  The  report  shall  contain  an  accurate  statement  in  summar- 
ized form,  and  also  in  detail,  of  the  financial  receipts  of  the  city  from  all 
sovirces  and  of  the  expenditures  of  the  city  for  all  purposes,  together  with  a 
detailed  statement  of  the  debt  of  said  city,  of  the  purposes  for  which  such 
debt  has  been  incurred,  and  of  the  property  of  said  city,  and  of  the  accounts 
of  the  city  with  grantees  of  franchises." 

The  recommendations  of  the  Municipal  Program  under  this 
head  are  designed  to  faciHtate  that  enforcement  of  poUtical  re- 
sponsibility which  has  been  the  end  and  aim  of  all  recent  adminis- 
trative reforms.  The  close  relation  between  public  accounting 
and  administrative  efficiency  is  most  clearly  shown  in  the  finan- 
ciering of  private  corporations.  It  is  a  well-known  principle  of 
corporate  management  that  the  responsibility  of  president  and 
directors  is  largely  determined  by  the  annual  financial  report. 
That  this  report  should  be  unequivocal  and  readily  intelligible 
is  one  of  its  primary  requisites.  Otherwise,  the  stockholders  are 
deprived  of  all  means  of  enforcing  responsibility.  Whenever  the 
system  of  accounting  is  defective,  or  when  it  has  been  arranged 
with  a  view  to  concealing  the  policy  of  the  directors,  all  real  re- 
sponsibility disappears.  At  times,  it  is  true,  stockholders  are  will- 
ing to  submit  to  such  methods  in  order  to  avoid  franchise  taxes  or 
other  obligations. 

Although  the  analogy  between  the  management  of  private  and 
public  corporations  is  often  misleading,  it  is  of  value  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  questions  of  financial  responsibility.  It  is  quite  true 
that  the  standards  of  efficiency  in  the  two  cases  are  quite  dififerent. 
The  mere  fact  of  a  large  treasury  balance  is  no  necessary  indica- 


*  State  Controller  or  other  fiscal  oflScer. 

**  This  section  assumes  December  31  to  be  the  end  of  the  city's  fiscal  year. 


L.    S.    ROWE.  107 

tion  of  governmental  efficiency.  A  surplus  may  be  due  to  the 
failure  to  repair  the  deterioration  of  public  works,  or  to  meet 
pressing  obligations.  While,  therefore,  the  standards  to  be  ap- 
plied to  the  financial  reports  of  private  and  public  corporations 
are  quite  different,  accuracy  and  intelligibility  are  equally  neces- 
sary in  both  cases. 

The  provisions  of  the  Constitutional  Amendment  and  Munici- 
pal Corporations  Act  cited  above  prescribe: 

(i)  The  content  and  publication  of  financial  reports. 
(2)  The  presentation  of  annual  reports  to  the  fiscal  officer  of 
the  State. 
The  first  of  these  is  intended  to  remedy  the  evils  resulting  from 
the  lack  of  trustworthy  information  on  important  questions  of 
public  policy,  due.  in  large  part,  to  the  failure  of  officials  to  report 
on  the  financial  condition  of  the  city  at  stated  intervals.    The  fur- 
ther requirement  that  the  reports  shall  conform  to  the  system  pre- 
scribed by  the  fiscal  officer  of  the  State  is  intended  as  a  guaranty 
that  the  statements  will  be  readily  intelligible  and  open  to  but  one 
interpretation. 

It  must  in  fairness  be  said  that  the  present  complexity  of  city 
reports  is  due,  in  large  part,  to  the  haphazard  and  ill-advised  State 
legislation  which  has  burdened  cities  with  an  endless  series  of  spe- 
cial accounts.  In  New  York  city,  for  example,  instead  of  permit- 
ting the  municipality  to  determine  the  details  of  financial  policy, 
the  State  Legislature  has  not  hesitated  to  force  ipon  it  a  great 
number  of  expenditures  for  specific  purposes.  Many  of  these 
have  ben  grouped  under  the  "Special  and  Trust  Accounts,"  and 
do  not  figure  in  the  general  appropriation  account  of  the  city. 
To  add  to  the  confusion  the  Legislature  has  pledged  certain 
classes  of  receipts  to  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  city  debt. 
Among  these  we  find  such  important  items  as  ferry  rents,  court 
fees  and  fines,  Croton  water  rents,  etc.,  amounting  in  1896  to 
$4,796,775.51.  For  the  payment  of  the  city  debt,  important 
sources  of  revenue,  such  as  market  rents,  rlock  and  slip  rents, 
pawnbrokers'  licenses,  railroad  franchises,  etc..  amounting  in 
1896  to  $5,546,798.21,  have  been  taken  from  the  General  Income 
account.  Naturally,  the  Controller's  report  mirrors  the  system 
of  accounting  which  has  been  forced  upon  the  city  through  State 


108  PUBLIC    ACCOUNTING. 


legislation.  It  would,  of  course,  be  possible  to  re-group  receipts 
and  expenditures  in  more  simplified  form,  but  this  would  entail 
additional  labor,  and  since  the  term  of  office  of  the  Controller  is 
usually  brief,  there  is  but  little  incentive  to  make  the  change. 

It  is  important  to  note  in  this  connection  that  under  the  pro- 
posed Municipal  Program  (Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article 
Six)  the  changes  in  the  management  of  the  Controller's  office 
will  probably  be  less  frequent  than  at  present.  The  office  is  re- 
moved from  the  uncertainties  of  popular  election  and  given  an  in- 
definite tenure.  The  Council  is  not  likely  to  endanger  the  stability 
of  the  city's  financial  system  by  making  frequent  changes,  partic- 
ularly when  it  is  not  called  upon  to  make  a  change  at  any  stated 
period. 

With  his  tenure  of  office  dependent  upon  the  character  of  his 
administration,  every  inducement  will  be  offered  to  the  Con- 
troller to  organize  the  financial  department  upon  sound  principles 
and  to  make  the  statements  of  financial  condition  readily  intelligi- 
ble to  the  citizens.  He  will  thus  be  able  to  enlist  strong  popular 
support  in  case  of  an  attempt  by  the  Council  to  use,  for  political 
purposes,  its  power  over  the  office. 

The  numerous  instances  in  which  public  opinion  has  been  un- 
able to  reach  any  definite  conclusions — owing  to  the  lack  of  sys- 
tematic presentation  of  financial  data — would  seem  a  sufficient 
reason  for  these  provisions  in  the  Program.  One  of  the  most 
striking  illustrations  is  the  recent  leasing  of  the  Philadelphia  Gas 
Works.  The  conflicting  statements  of  opposing  interests  were 
supported  by  data  taken  from  the  same  reports.  The  classifica- 
tion of  receipts  and  expenditures  was  so  confusing  that  almost  any 
proposition  could  be  read  into  it.  We  cannot  expect  the  citizen 
to  subject  every  public  financial  statement  to  critical  analysis.  He 
is  at  the  mercy  of  conflicting  interpretations  unless  the  official 
information  furnished  him  is  so  clear  and  unequivocal  as  to  leave 
no  room  for  doubt. 

Another  element  of  no  mean  importance  is  the  relation  of  sys- 
tematic accounting  and  reports  to  the  financial  stability  and  credit 
of  the  city.  No  business  man  or  private  corporation  can  afford  to 
incur  the  odium  resulting  from  negligent  financial  management. 
Civic  life  suffers  no  less  than  private  business  relations  under  such 


L.    S.    ROWE.  109 

circumstances.  Wearied  of  the  uncertainties  of  the  city's  financial 
management,  the  population  is  soon  prepared  to  turn  over  public 
services  to  private  corporations.  The  city's  credit  suffers,  further- 
more, from  the  inability  of  investors  to  ascertain  either  the  nature 
of  its  assets  or  the  productivity  of  its  enterprises.  Thus  the  finan- 
cial stability  of  the  government  is  gradually  undermined  until  the 
stern  necessities  of  impending  calamity  force  a  reorganization  of 
the  financial  system. 

The  desirability  of  prescribing  uniformity  in  city  reports  is  so 
obvious  as  to  require  but  brief  consideration.  It  is  quite  likely 
that  this  provision  will  prove  to  be  the  first  step  toward  a  well- 
organized  system  of  central  administrative  control  over  the 
finances  of  municipalities.  The  important  power  of  inspection 
and  examination  given  to  the  chief  fiscal  officer  of  the  State  is  in 
harmony  with  the  best  interests  of  both  city  and  State.  The  col- 
lection of  the  State's  share  of  general  property  taxes  by  the  local 
authorities  gives  it  a  real  and  direct  interest  in  the  organization 
of  the  city's  finances.  From  the  information  contained  in  these 
reports  the  State  Legislature  will  be  in  a  position  to  determine 
with  far  greater  accuracy  than  is  possible  at  present  the  ability  of 
cities  to  undertake  new  functions.  The  system  of  State  examina- 
tion of  local  accounts  has  been  tried  in  a  number  of  States — nota- 
bly Minnesota  and  Wyoming.  In  the  latter*  the  examiner  enjoys 
far-reaching  powers,  including  the  determination  of  the  system  of 
bookkeeping  and  the  verification  of  all  accounts  of  county  officers. 
Refusal  of  local  officers  to  make  required  returns  or  any  attempt 
to  interfere  with  or  obstruct  the  work  of  the  State  examiner  is 
made  a  penal  offense,  punishable  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  one 
thousand  dollars  nor  more  than  five  thousand  dollars,  or  by  im- 
prisonment in  the  penitentiary  for  not  less  than  one  year  nor  more 
than  five  years,  or  both. 

Another  advantage  incident  to  uniformity  of  financial  reports  is 
the  possibility  thus  offered  of  furnishing  every  city  with  the  results 
of  the  experience  of  sister  municipalities.  An  accurate  record  of 
the  financial  operations  of  the  cities  of  the  State  cannot  help  fur- 
nishing valuable  lessons,  both  positive  and  negative,  provided  ab- 

*  See  Session  Laws  of  \V3'oming.     1890-91.     Chap.  84. 


no  PUBLIC    ACCOUNTING. 


solute  trustworthiness  of  returns  can  be  depended  upon.  The 
plan  proposed  g-uarantees  this  primary  requisite.  Finally,  the  pro- 
vision under  consideration  will  correct  the  evils  resulting  from  the 
irregularity  in  the  publication  of  reports.  Few  of  our  larger  cities 
make  any  attempt  to  give  to  their  citzens  trustworthy  statements 
of  their  financial  status  within  six  months  of  the  close  of  the  fiscal 
year.  The  officials  are  thus  able  to  escape  the  responsibility  which 
would  otherwise  attach  to  such  statements. 

As  regards  the  content  of  the  city's  financial  statements,  it  may 
be  interesting  to  note  that  the  annual  report  of  the  Auditor  of 
Boston  furnishes  an  excellent  instance  of  a  clear  and  intelligible 
presentation  of  financial  condition.  The  general  statement  of  re- 
ceipts and  expenditures  and  the  condition  of  the  city  debt  is  fol- 
lowed bv  detailed  tables,  showing  "Appropriations  and  Payments." 
This  is  followed  by  a  minute  exposition  of  the  income  and  expen- 
diture accounts  arranged  alphabetically,  a  statement  of  the  income 
and  expenditure  of  the  County  of  Suffolk,  and  an  analysis  of  city 
and  county  indebtedness  follows.  An  appendix  to  the  report  con- 
tains information  on  special  topics  of  interest,  such  as  the  value  of 
city  property,  the  city's  trust  funds,  and  summaries  of  total  expen- 
ditures for  specific  purposes  during  the  last  thirty  years,  such  as 
schools,  water  works,  etc.  The  report  of  the  Auditor  of  Qeveland 
is  also  worthy  of  special  attention,  because  of  the  excellent  sum- 
mary of  receipts  and  expenditures.  In  its  main  features  this  sum- 
mary conforms  to  the  outline  presented  in  the  appendix  to  this 
paper. 

The  Financial  Control  over  Receipts  and  Expenditures. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Six,  1|  If  /,  6,  7,  5  .• 

"The  Council  shall  elect,  and  may  by  resolution  remove,  a  Controller, 
who  shall  have  a  general  supervision  and  control  of  all  the  fiscal  aflFairs  of 
the  city,  to  be  exercised  in  the  manner  which  may  be  by  ordinance  pre- 
scribed. It  shall  be  his  duty  to  keep  the  books  of  account  and  to  make  the 
financial  reports  provided  for  in  Article  II,  Section  15  of  this  Act.  His  books 
shall  also  exhibit  accurate  and  detailed  statements  of  all  moneys  received 
and  expended  for  account  of  the  city  by  all  city  officers  and  other  persons, 
and  of  the  property  owned  by  the  city  and  the  income  derived  therefrom. 
He  shall  also  keep  separate  accounts  of  each  appropriation,  and  of  the  dates, 
purpose  and  manner  of  each  payment  therefrom. 


L.    S.    ROWE.  Ill 

"  The  Controller  shall  examine  and  audit  all  bills,  claims  and  demands 
against  the  city,  and  shall  promptly  report  in  writing  to  the  Mayor  and  to 
the  Council  any  default  or  delinquency  he  may  discover  in  the  accounts  of 
any  city  oflScer. 

"The  Controller  may  require  any  person  presenting  for  settlement  an 
account  or  claim  for  any  cause  whatever  against  the  city  to  be  sworn  or 
affirmed  before  him,  touching  such  account  or  claim ;  and,  when  so  sworn 
or  affirmed,  to  answer  orally  as  to  any  facts  relative  to  the  justness  of  such 
account  or  claim.  Willful  false  swearing  before  him  shall  be  perjury,  and 
punishable  as  such.  He  shall  seitle  and  adjust  all  claims  in  favor  of  or 
against  the  city,  and  all  accounts  in  which  the  city  is  concerned  as  debtor  or 
creditor  ;  but  in  adjusting  and  settling  such  claims,  he  shall,  so  far  as  prac- 
ticable, be  governed  by  the  rules  of  law  and  principles  of  equity  which  pre- 
vail in  courts  of  justice.  The  power  hereby  given  to  settle  and  adjust  such 
claims  shall  not  be  construed  to  give  such  settlement  and  adjustment  the 
binding  eflfect  of  a  judgment  or  decree,  nor  to  authorize  ihe  Controller  to 
dispute  the  amount  or  payment  of  any  salary  estnblished  by  or  under  the 
authority  of  any  officer  or  department  authorized  to  establish  the  some, 
because  of  failure  in  the  due  performance  of  his  duties  by  such  officer, 
except  when  necessary  to  prevent  fraud. 

"No  payment  of  city  funds  shall  be  made  except  upon  draft  or  warrant 
countersigned  by  the  Controller,  who  shall  not  countersign  any  such  draft 
or  warrant  until  he  has  examined  and  audited  the  claim,  and  found  the  same 
justly  and  legally  due  and  payable;  and  that  the  payment  has  been  legally 
authorized,  and  the  money  therefor  has  been  duly  appropriated,  and  that 
the  appropriation  has  not  been  exhausted." 

The  questions  here  involved  are  mainly  of  a  technical  nattire, 
involving  many  of  the  intricacies  of  administrative  organization. 
The  far-reaching  powers  of  financial  control  given  to  the  Con- 
troller assure  to  the  ofBce  the  importance  which  it  has  come  to 
occupy  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  In  all  our  larger  cities  there  is 
a  marked  tendency  to  look  to  this  official  for  the  speedy  redress  of 
grievances.  When  the  citizen  feels  himself  injured  by  the  failure 
of  a  city  contractor  fully  to  meet  his  obligations,  the  easiest  and 
usually  the  most  effective  remedy  is  to  demand  that  payment  be 
deferred  until  further  investigation.  The  remedy  is  equally  effec- 
tive when  a  head  of  department  has  violated  the  law  in  the  award- 
ing of  contracts  or  in  the  making  of  appointments.  The  control- 
lers of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  have  not  hesitated  to  use  this 
power  in  cases  in  which  the  Mayor  has  refused  to  give  relief 
through  his  power  of  removal.    In  addition  to  this  most  important 


112  PUBLIC   ACCOUNTING. 


supervisory  power  this  officer  is  given  general  control  over  the 
accounts  of  every  city  official. 

With  such  a  combination  of  powers  there  is  every  reason  to  ex- 
pect that  the  office  will  attract  men  of  the  very  highest  ability. 
The  experience  of  all  our  larger  cities  has  shown  that  with  every 
increase  of  power  there  has  been  a  distinct  improvement  in  the 
character  of  the  candidates.  Under  the  system  proposed,  failure 
to  perform  official  duties  faithfully  and  efficiently  will  carry  with 
it  consequences  which  no  individual,  and  certainly  no  political 
party,  can  afford  to  meet. 

Accounts  of  Municipal  Industrial  Enterprises. 

Constitutional  Amendment,  Article  Three,  Sec.  2,  T[  4. 
Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Two,  Sec.  14,  ^  4. 

Under  these  provisions  the  following  classes  of  bonds  are  not  to 
be  included  in  calculating  the  limits  of  city  indebtedness: 

"  Bonds  authorized  by  the  affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  members 
of  the  Council,  approved  by  the  Mayor,  and  approved  by  the  affirmative 
vote  of  the  majority  of  the  qualified  electors  of  the  city  voting  upon  the 
question  of  their  issuance  at  the  next  ensuing  city  election,  for  the  supply 
of  water  or  for  other  specific  undertaking  from  which  the  city  will  derive  a 
revenue ;  but  from  and  after  a  period  to  be  determined  by  the  Council,  not 
exceeding  five  years  from  the  date  of  such  election,  whenever  and  for  so  long 
as  such  an  undertaking  fails  to  produce  sufficient  revenue  to  pay  all  costs  of 
operation  and  administration  (including  interest  on  the  city's  bonds  issued 
therefor  and  the  cost  of  insurance  against  losses  by  fire,  accidents  and  inju- 
ries to  persons)  and  an  annual  contribution  to  a  sinking  fund  which  will  pay 
at  or  before  maturity  all  bonds  issued  on  account  of  said  undertaking ;  all 
such  bonds  outstanding  shall  be  included  in  determining  the  limitation  of 
the  city's  power  to  incur  indebtedness.  The  City  Controller  shall  annually 
report  to  the  Council  in  detail  the  amount  of  the  revenue  from  each  such 
undertaking,  and  whether  there  is  any  ;  and,  if  so,  what  deficit  in  meeting 
the  requirements  of  its  sinking  fund." 

With  the  exception  of  the  provisions  here  cited — which  affect 
but  indirectly  the  question  under  consideration — the  Municipal 
Program  contains  no  recommendations  either  in  the  Constitu- 
tional Amendment  or  in  the  Municipal  Corporations  Act.  This 
omission  has  been  dictated  by  a  desire  to  limit  the  Act  to  the  gen- 
eral principles  of  municipal  organization. 


L.    S.    ROWE.  I  I  3 

It  is  important  to  point  out,  however,  that  the  experience  of  the 
last  few  years  has  shown  the  far-reaching  consequences  of  unsys- 
tematic accounting  in  the  industrial  enterprises  of  the  municipality. 
Here  again  the  recent  leasing  of  the  Philadelphia  Gas  Works  fur- 
nishes a  striking  instance.  After  some  fifty  years  of  municipal 
management  the  works  were  turned  over  to  a  private  company, 
largely  because  of  the  failure  of  the  published  accounts  to  give  a 
correct  statement  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  enterprise. 
Each  year  the  published  reports  showed  a  large  surplus  which 
stifled  the  criticism  to  which  the  management  would  otherwise 
have  been  subjected.  In  fact,  the  deterioration  in  the  quality  of 
gas  was  largely  due  to  the  brilliant  financial  reports.  When  the 
attack  upon  the  city's  works  was  opened  by  the  companies  desir- 
ing to  obtain  the  franchise,  it  was  found  that  instead  of  gross 
profits  having  been  applied  to  the  repair  and  improvement  of  the 
works,  no  account  had  been  taken  of  depreciation  and  deterior?- 
tion.  During  the  decade  1887-97  over  five  million  dollars  01 
gross  profits  were  used  to  reduce  the  tax  rate.  Under  such  con- 
ditions it  was  comparatively  easy  for  the  franchise-seekers  to  show 
that  under  city  management  the  gas  works  had  been  permitted 
to  sink  into  a  dilapidated  condition.  The  popular  feeling  aroused 
by  this  exposure  led  to  the  abandonment  of  municipal  manage- 
ment. Had  the  financiering  of  the  gas  works  been  made  to  con- 
form to  sound  business  principles,  they  would  never  have  reached 
the  low  plane  of  efficiency  which  made  the  easy  prey  for  the  cor- 
poration which  now  enjoys  a  monopoly  of  the  gas  service. 

In  any  sound  system  of  municipal  accounting  ample  provision 
must  be  made  to  keep  all  public  works  at  the  highest  point  of  effi- 
ciency before  any  surplus  is  turned  into  the  general  city  treasury. 
The  accounts  of  public  works  should  be  completely  separated  from- 
the  general  treasury  account,  while  the  receipts  of  each  pviblic 
work  should  be  charged  with  the  interest  and  liquidation  of  the 
debt  contracted  for  its  benefit  plus  an  amount  sufficient  to  cover 
the  cost  of  all  repairs.  Under  such  a  system  the  true  financial 
status  of  every  public  work  will  be  kept  before  the  public  eye- 
and  thus  efifectually  prevent  the  periodical  raids  upon  the  city's, 
property  by  private  corporations. 


114  PUBLIC    ACCOUNTING. 


Accounts  of  Grantees  of  AIunicipal  Franchises. 

Constitutional  Amendment,  Article  Three,  Sec.  i,  last  Tf. 

"Every  grantee  of  such  franchises  or  rights  to  use  shall  keep  books  of 
accounts  and  make  stated  quarterly  reports  to  the  Financial  Department  of 
the  city,  which  shall  contain  an  accurate  statement  in  summarized  form, 
and  also  in  detail,  of  all  financial  receipts  from  all  sources  and  all  expendi- 
tures for  all  purposes,  together  with  a  full  statement  of  assets  and  debts,  as 
well  as  such  other  information  as  to  the  financial  condition  of  such  grantee 
as  said  department  may  require,  and  said  department  may  inspect  and 
examine,  or  cause  to  be  inspected  and  examined,  at  all  reasonable  hours, 
any  books  of  account  of  such  grantee." 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Two,  Sec.  lo. 

Essentially  the  same  as  the  above,  with  the  additional  provision 
that  the  books  of  account  of  grantees  of  franchises  shall  be  kept 
and  reports  presented  in  accordance  with  forms  and  methods  pre- 
scribed by  the  City  Controller,  vv^hich,  as  far  as  practicable,  shall 
be  uniform  for  all  such  grantees. 

Municipal  Corporations  Act,  Article  Six,  H  ^  2,  J,  4, 5- 

"The  Controller  shall  keep  a  separate  record  for  each  grantee  of  a  fran- 
chise from  the  city  rendering  a  service  to  be  paid  for  wholly  or  in  part  by 
users  of  such  service,  which  record  shall  show  in  the  cas^e  of  each  such 
grantee : 

"  I.  The  true  and  entire  cost  of  construction,  of  equipment,  of  mainte- 
nance, and  of  the  administration  and  operation  thereof;  the  amount  of 
stock  issued,  if  any  ;  the  amount  of  cash  paid  in  ;  the  number  and  par  value 
of  shares ;  the  amount  and  character  of  indebtedness,  if  any ;  the  rate  of 
taxes  ;  the  dividends  declared ;  the  character  and  amount  of  all  fixed 
charges  ;  the  allowance,  if  any,  for  interest,  for  wear  and  tear  or  deprecia- 
tion ;  all  amounts  and  sources  of  income  ; 

"  2.  The  amount  collected  annually  from  the  city  treasury,  and  the  char- 
acter and  extent  of  the  service  rendered  therefor  to  the  city. 

"3.  The  amount  collected  annually  from  other  users  of  the  service,  and 
the  character  and  extent  of  the  service  rendered  therefor  to  them.  Such 
books  of  record  shall  be  open  to  public  examination  at  any  time  during  the 
business  hours  of  the  Controller's  office. 

Probably  no  other  question  connected  with  the  government  of 
municipalities  has  so  occupied  the  public  mind  within  recent  years 
as  the  relation  between  the  city  and  public-service  corporations. 
Entrenched  behind  constitutional  and  legal  safeguards  the  corpo- 
rations have  been  able,  under  the  protection  of  the  courts,  to  defy 
the  city  authorities  to  a  degree  which  has  made  it  difificult  to  de- 


L.    S.    ROWE.  115 


termine  in  many  instances  whether  the  city  controlled  the  corpora- 
tion, or  vice  versa.  The  dangers  to  our  political  life  involved  in 
such  a  situation  can  hardly  be  over-estimated.  In  the  public  mind 
it  creates  a  feeling  of  antagonism  to  such  corporations  which  fur- 
nishes the  cloak  for  the  most  unscrupulous  kind  of  extortion  by 
corrupt  politicians.  The  periodical  "strikes"  of  the  State  Legis- 
latures upon  public-service  corporations  usually  parade  before  the 
people  as  honest  attempts  to  secure  for  them  a  larger  return  for 
the  privileges  which  they  have  granted.  The  efifect  upon  the  cor- 
porations is  no  less  unfortunate.  The  directors — who  regard 
themselves  as  trustees  for  the  stockholders — feel  themselves  under 
obligations  to  parry  the  attack  by  every  possible  means.  As  brib- 
ery is  the  surest  and  quickest  plan,  it  is  resorted  to  and  subse- 
quently justified  with  the  argument  that  the  fault  lies  with  the 
people  in  electing  a  corrupt  Legislature.  However  we  may  con- 
demn this  view,  it  represents  the  attitude  of  a  very  large  and  influ- 
ential section  of  our  population,  and  must  be  reckoned  with  in  any 
attempt  to  meet  the  evil. 

Experience — ofttimes  of  a  rather  bitter  sort — has  repeatedly 
demonstrated  the  futility  of  legislation  designed  to  oppose  the 
combination  and  consolidation  of  public-service  corporations. 
Statute  law  cannot  overcome  the  inevitable  tendencies  of  economic 
growth.  While  it  is  evident  to  every  observer  that  the  permanent 
interests  of  the  public  are  endangered  by  this  feeling  of  antago- 
nism between  the  corporations  and  the  people,  it  is  equally  clear 
that  some  form  of  public  control  is  absolutely  necessary  to  safe- 
guard such  interests. 

The  first,  and  certainly  the  most  important  step,  toward  acquir- 
ing such  control  is  to  compel  the  public-service  corporations  to 
furnish  complete  data  concerning  the  investment,  capital,  and  op- 
erating accounts.  Absence  of  trustworthy  information  on  these 
points  makes  the  determination  of  franchise  values  mere  guess- 
work. The  corporation,  rather  than  the  public,  profits  by  the 
resulting  uncertainty.  Furthermore,  the  requirement  that  corpo- 
rate accounts  be  kept  in  accordance  with  standards  prescribed  by 
the  public  authority,  combined  with  the  publicity  of  such  accounts, 
will  effectually  check  over-capitalization,  which  is  a  constant  men- 
ace to  the  public  at  large  as  well  as  a  ready  means  of  avoiding  pay- 


Il6  PUBLIC   ACCOUNTING. 


ments  for  franchise  privileges.  In  a  great  number  of  cases — of 
which  the  street  railway  system  of  Philadelphia  furnishes  a  con- 
spicuous instance — the  reservation  by  the  city  of  the  right  of  ulti- 
mate purchase  of  the  plant  has  proved  worthless,  owing  to  the  ab- 
sence of  information  as  to  construction  and  equipment. 

Another  advantage  of  no  mean  importance  accruing  from  the 
publicity  of  accounts  is  the  possibility  thus  offered  of  preventing 
the  expenditure  of  large  sums  for  corrupt  political  purposes.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  important  means  of  taking  the  corporations  out  of 
politics. 

With  full  and  complete  information  concerning  franchises  in 
the  hands  of  the  public  authority  it  will  be  possible  to  adjust  the 
relations  of  the  municipality  to  the  public-service  corporations  on 
a  definite  and  permanent  basis.  In  the  long  run  both  the  corpora- 
tions and  the  public  will  profit  by  the  change.  The  greater  secur- 
ity to  vested  rights  which  must  result  will  tend  to  offset  the  in- 
creased obligations  resulting  from  a  more  accurate  valuation  of 
franchises.  When  these  companies  once  clearly  understand  that 
they  cannot  avoid  contractual  obligations  by  any  of  the  well- 
known  methods  of  financial  juggling,  we  shall  be  well  on  the  way 
toward  such  an  adjustment  of  relations  as  will  safeguard  both  the 
interests  of  the  public  and  those  of  the  stockholders.  There  will 
no  longer  be  any  excuse  for  the  periodical  "strikes"  which  now 
disgrace  our  legislative  halls,  nor  will  there  be  any  inducement 
for  the  public-service  corporations  to  indulge  in  the  qviestionable 
financial  operations  which  have  aroused  so  much  criticism  and 
opposition. 


APPENDIX. 

OUTLINE      FOR      SUMMARIZED      STATEMENT      OF      RECEIPTS 

AND     EXPENDITURES. 

ORDINARY  RECEIPTS. 
I.    Taxation. 

a.  General  Property  Taxes. 

1.  Real  Property  Taxes. 

2.  Personal  Property  Taxes. 

b.  Poll  Taxes. 


L.    S.    ROWE.  117 


Lice'ses. 


1.  Liquor  licenses. 

2.  Other  licenses,  including  mercantile,  peddlers',  and  hawkers' 

licenses.     Not  to  include  street  railway  licenses,  which   are 
to  be  placed  under  the  separate  heading  of  franchises. 

d.  Franchise  and  Franchise  Taxes. 

Include  under  this  head  all  payments  for  franchise  privileges  by 
gas,  water,  electric  light,  telephone,  street  railway,  or  other 
companies  enjoying  municipal  franchises.  Pavments  under 
general  property  taxes  not  to  be  included. 

c.  Fees. 

1.  Legal  and  judicial  fees,  including  fees  for  recording  deeds  and 

registering  wills. 

2.  Other  fees,  such  as  vault  permits,  sidewalk  permits,  etc. 

f.  Special  Assessments. 

1.  Opening  streets. 

2.  Paving  streets. 

3.  Sidewalks. 

4.  Sewers. 

5.  Miscellaneous  assessments. 

II.  Public  Safety.* 

a.  Police. 

b.  Fire  Department. 

C.   Fire  and  Police  Telegraph. 

d.  Jails,  Prisons  and  Reformatories. 

e.  Health  Department. 

f.  Food  inspection. 

g.  Building  inspection. 

h.  Regulating  dangerous  pursuits. 

i.  Sanitary  measures. 

j.  Public  Pound. 

k.  Militia. 

/.  Miscellaneous. 

III.  Public  Charity."^ 

a.  Hospitals. 

b.  Insane  asylums. 

c.  Homes. 

d.  Workhouses,  almshouse. 

e.  Lodging  houses. 


*  The  income  from  local  courts  has  been  included  under  "  Fees." 

t  -Although  very  little  income  is  usually  derived  from  some  of  these  sources  they  are 
inserted  to  harmonize  with  corresponding  items  under  "  Expenditures." 


Il8  PUBLIC    ACCOUNTING. 


f.  Outdoor  relief. 

g.  The  unemployed. 
h.  Miscellaneous. 

IV.  Public  Convenietice. 

a.  Chief  Engineer, 

b.  Opening  and  grading  streets.     Abolishing  grade  crossings. 

c.  Street  and  sidewalk  paving. 

d.  Street  cleaning. 

e.  Street  lighting. 

f.  Removal  of  garbage. 

g.  Bridges. 

h.  River  and  harbor  improvements. 

i.  Sewers. 

j    Parks  and  playgrounds. 

k.  Batlis,  laundries  and  public  comfort  stations. 

/.  Ferries. 

V.  Public  Industries. 

a.  Gas  works. 

b.  Water  works. 

c.  Electric  light  works. 

d.  Markets. 

e.  Docks  and  wharves. 
/.  Ferries. 

g.  Street  railways. 
h.  Conduits. 

VI.  Public  Education  and  Allied  Objects. 

a.  Schools. 

b.  Free  library. 

c.  Reading-room. 

d.  Celebrations. 

e.  Monuments. 
/.  Documents. 

VII.  Public  Trust  Funds. 

Funds  and  foundations  of  which  the  city  has  the  administration. 

EXTRAORDINARY  RECEIPTS. 

VIII.  Pi^blic  Debt. 


(i)  Funded  debt. 
(2)  Floating  debt.* 


*  Exclude  from  this  mere  book  accounts,  such  as  the  income  from  revenue  bonds  issued 
in  anticipation  of  taxes. 


L.    S.    ROWE.         *  119 

BXPENDITURE.t 

I.  Gerieral  Government. 

a.  Executive. 

1.  City  Hall — General  maintenance  and  repairs. 

2.  Mayor's  Office. 

3.  Heads  of  Departments. 

4.  Special  experts. 

b.  Legislative. 

1.  City  Councils. 

2.  City  Clerk. 

c.  Legal. 

I.   Law  Department  (city  courts  not  included). 

d.  Finance  Departments. 

1.  Assessors. 

2.  Tax  Collectors. 

3.  Treasurer. 

4.  Comptroller  or  Auditor. 

5.  Board  of  Hstimate  and  Apportionment. 

6.  Board  of  Equalization. 

7.  Sinking  Fund  Commission. 
c.  Elections. 

II.  Public  Safety. 

a.  Police. 

b.  Fire  Department. 

c.  Fire  and  Police  Telegraph. 

d.  Local  Courts. 

e.  Jails,  Prisons  and  Reformatories. 

f.  Health  Department. 

g.  Food  inspection. 

h.  Building  inspection. 
t.    Regulating  dangerovis  pursuits. 
j.    Sanitary  measures, 
k.   Public  Pound. 
/.    Militia. 
w.  Miscellaneous. 

t  Under  each  heading  it  will  be  desirable  to  classify  as  follows  : 
I.  Current  expenses  and  maintenance. 

1.  Salaries. 

2.  Supplies. 

3.  Other  expenses. 
II.  Construction. 

III.  Extraordinary  expenditures  other  than  construction. 


I20  PUBLIC   ACCOUNTING. 


III. 

Public  Charity. 

a. 

Hospitals. 

b. 

Insane  Asylum. 

c. 

Homes. 

d. 

Workhouses,  Almshouses. 

e. 

Lodging  Houses. 

f. 

Outdoor  Relief, 

g- 

Unemploj'ed. 

h. 

Miscellaneous. 

IV. 

Public  Convenience. 

a. 

Chief  Engineer.     Office  and  service. 

b. 

Opening  and  grading  streets.     Abolishing  grade  crossi)igs 

c. 

Street  and  sidewalk  paving. 

d. 

Street  cleaning. 

e. 

Street  lighting. 

/■ 

Removal  of  garbage. 

g- 

Bridges. 

h. 

River  and  harbor  improvements. 

i. 

Sewers. 

J- 

Parks. 

k. 

Baths,  laundries  and  public  comfort  stations. 

V. 

Public  Industries. 

a. 

Gas  works. 

b. 

Water  works. 

c. 

Electric  light  works. 

d. 

Markets. 

e. 

Docks  and  wharves. 

/• 

Ferries. 

g- 

Street  railways. 

h. 

Conduits. 

VI.  Public  Education  and  Allied  Objects. 

a.  Schools. 

b.  Free  library. 

c.  Reading-rooms. 

d.  Celebrations. 

e.  Monuments. 

f.  Documents. 

VII.  Public  Trust  Funds. 

a.  Funds  and  foundations  of  which  the  city  has  the  administration. 

VIII.  Public  Indebtedness. 

a.  Interest  on  funded  and  floating  debt. 

b.  Liquidation  of  funded  and  floating  debt*  (including  payments  for 

this  purpose  from  general  treasury  and  sinking  fund). 

•Assets  of  sinking  fund  are  to  be  treated  as  "  cash,"  and  will  figure  in  the  balance  sheet. 


L.    S.    KOWE. 


121 


SUMMARIZED  STATEMENT  OF  RECEIPTS  AND  EXPENDITURES. 


General  Government. 

Executive, 

Legislative, 

Law  Department,  .  . 
Finance  Departments, 
Elections, 


I. 

2, 

3- 
4- 
5- 
II.   Taxation. 

Real  Property  Taxes, 

Personal  Property  Taxes,   .    .    . 

Poll  Taxes, 

Licenses 

Franchise  and  Franchise  Taxes, 

F'ees, 

Special  Assessments, 


RBCEIPTS. 


Ordi- 
nary. 


IIL 


IV. 


Public  Safety. 

Police, 

F'ire  Department, 

Fire  and  Police  Telegraph,    .    . 
Jails,    Prisons,    and    Reforma- 
tories,    

Health  Department, 

Food  inspection, 

Building  inspection, 

Regulating  dangerous  pursuits, 

Sanitary  measures, 

Public  Pound, 

Militia, 

Miscellaneous 

Public  Charity. 

Hospitals, 

Insane  Asylums, 

Homes, 

Workhouses, 

Lodging  Houses, 

Outdoor  Relief 

Unemployed, 

Miscellaneous, 


Extra- 
ordinary. 


EXPENDITURES. 


OrJli- 
nary. 


Extra- 
ordinary. 


Public  Convenience. 

Chief     Engineer,     Office    and 

service 

Opening  and  grading  streets,  . 
Abolishing  grade  crossings,  .  . 
Street  and  sidewalk  paving,  .    . 

Street  cleaning, 

Street  lighting. 

Removal  of  garbage, 

Bridges 

River  and  harbor  improvements, 


122 


PUBLIC   ACCOUNTING. 


SUMMARIZ:ED  statement  of  receipts  and  expenditures.— Continued. 


RECEIPTS. 


Ordi- 
nary. 


public 


V.  Public  Convenience. — Continued. 

Sewers, 

Parks, 

Baths,     laundries,    and 
comfort  stations,   . 

VI.  Public  Industries. 

Gas  works, 

Water  works, 

Electric  light  works,    . 

Markets, 

Docks  and  wharves,     . 

Ferries, 

Street  railways, .... 
Conduits, 


VII. 


Public  Education 

Objects. 
Schools,  .... 
Free  library,  .  . 
Reading-rooms, 
Celebrations,  .  . 
Monuments,  .  . 
Documents,     .    . 


and    Allied 


VIII.  Public  Trust  Funds. 

Funds  and  foundations,  .... 

IX.  Indebtedness. 

Interest 

Liquidation  of  loans  (from 
sinking   fund  and  general 

treasury), 

Totals, 

Receipts. 

Brought  down, 

Total  receipts, 

Cash  in  treasury  at  beginning 
of  fiscal  year, 

Cash*  in  hands  of  Sinking 
Fund  Commissioners  at 
beginning  of  fiscal  year,     . 

Expenditures. 

Brought  down, 

Total  expenditure, 

Cash  in  treasury  at  end  of 
6scal  year, 

Cash*  in  hands  of  Sinking 
Fund  Commissioners  at 
end  of  fiscal  year,     .... 


Extra- 
ordinary. 


EXPENDITURES. 


Ordi- 
nary. 


Extra- 
ordinary. 


*  To  be  interpreted  as  cash  or  such  securities  as  have  a  ready  cash  value. 


L.    S.    ROWE.  1-3 

Book  Accounts. 

Receipts. 

I.     Taxes  collected  for  the  State  and  to  be  turned  over  to  the  State  treasury. 
II.     Receipts  from  Revenue  Bonds  in  anticipation  of  current  taxes. 
III.     Receipts  of  Sinking  Fund. 

Expenditures. 

I.     Payment  of  taxes  collected  for  the  State. 
II.     Payments  to  Sinking  Fund  from  general  treasury-. 
III.     Payment  of  Revenue  Bonds  from  current  taxation. 


GeneraIv  Statement  of  Assets  and  Liabilities. 


Assets. 


1.  Available. 

Cash  in  treasury. 

Salable  lands  and  buildings. 

Taxes,  assessments,  etc.,  in  arrears. 

Other  debts  due. 

Other  available  assets  (specify). 

2.  Not  available. 

Water  works. 
Gas  works. 
School  houses. 
Public  buildings. 
Parks. 

Sinking  Fund. 

Bad  taxes,  i.  e.,  those  in  arrears  for  a  period  making  future  collec- 
tions improbable. 
Other  assets  not  avilable  (specify). 

Liabilities. 

Debt. 

a.  Bonded. 

b.  Floating. 

,         Outstanding  claims. 

Other  liabilities  (specify). 


124  THE    FINANCIAL    REPORTS    OF    MUNICIPALITIES. 


THE  FINANCIAL  REPORTS  OF  MUNICIPALITIES, 

WITH    SPECIAL    REFERENCE    TO    THE 

REQUIREMENT  OF  UNIFORMITY. 


Dr.  Edward  M.  Hart  well, 
Secretary,  Boston  Statistic  Department. 


The  Statistics  Department  of  Boston,  of  which  I  happen  to  be 
secretary,  was  not  estabhshed  until  May  i,  1897,  and  is  only  a 
few  months  older  than  the  Statistics  Department  of  New  York 
City,  the  only  other  department  of  the  same  kind  in  the  country, 
so  far  as  I  am  aware.  Moreover,  I  am  fain  to  confess  that  I  am 
not  an  expert  accountant,  and  have  never  served  in  any  capacity 
in  the  office  of  any  comptroller  or  auditor  of  accounts.  Naturally 
as  a  student  of  municipal  statistics  it  has  been  my  lot  to  deal  some- 
what with  financial  reports,  and  the  publications  of  my  depart- 
ment thus  far  relate  principally  to  the  financial  statistics  of  Bos- 
ton, as  you  will  see  from  the  specimens  offered  for  your  inspec- 
tion. Still  I  am  inclined  to  suspect  that  Dr.  Rowe  had  some 
desire  to  exhibit  me  as  a  kind  of  municipal  freak,  when  he  asked 
me  to  speak  on  so  special  a  subject  as  that  assigned  to  me  on  your 
programme. 

There  is  ample  testimony  to  show  that  the  accounts  and  finan- 
cial reports  of  cities  in  the  United  States  as  a  rule  lack  uniformity 
and  are  confusing  and  misleading:  thus  the  Fassett  Committee 
on  Cities  of  the  New  York  Legislature  in  1891  declares  "that  the 
system  of  accounting  in  the  several  cities  is  more  unintelligible 
and  chaotic  even  than  the  laws  under  which  the  cities  themselves 
are  administered."  The  committee  adds:  "We  believe  that  there 
can  be  no  wise  legislation  with  reference  to  the  government  of 
cities  unless  it  be  possible  for  the  officers  of  this  State,  and  espe- 
cially for  the  Legislature  and  the  Governor,  to  be  able  at  all  times 
to  know  with  definiteness  and  certainty  the  facts  relative  to  the 


E.    M.    HARTWELL.  1 2$ 


general  condition  of  municipal  administration  in  each  of  the  cities, 
and  more  particularly  the  exact  financial  situation  of  each  and  all 
of  them." 

Mr.  Frederick  R.  Clow,  in  an  article  on  Suggestions  for  the 
Study  of  Municipal  Finance  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  Econom- 
ics for  July,  1896,  declares  that  "the  great  need  is  for  better  finan- 
cial reports,  and  that  need  should  be  made  known  to  of^cials  at 
every  opportunity.     Statistics  carefully  worked  out  like  those  of 
national  governments  can  seldom  be  had  of  cities.     A  good  finan- 
cial report  requires  some  labor  and  expense,  skill  in  handling  sta- 
tistics, and  a  genuine  desire  to  convey  information.     INIost  local 
governments  lack  one  or  more  of  these  requirements.     An  example 
will  show  the  room  there  is  for  improvement.     The  Comptroller's 
report  for  Milwaukee  for  1894  contains  290  pages;  yet  the  only 
classification  of  expenditures  in  it  is  according  to  the  funds  on 
which  bills  were  drawn,  simply  a  list  of  the  bills  against  each 
fund  being  given.     Many  cities  and  most  of  the  small  municipali- 
ties of  the  United  States  issue  no  other  financial  reports  than  lists 
of  warrants  of  the  kind  just  shown.     The  model  report  does  not 
yet  exist  in  this  country.     Even  the  best  have  serious  defects. 
Boston  has  the  lead  in  the  character  of  its  city  documents;  the 
Auditor's  reports  are  better  than  anything  else  of  the  kind  I  have 
seen  from  an   American  city.     Yet  Mr.   Nathan  Matthews,  Jr., 
who  served  as  Mayor  from  1891  to  1895,  gave  the  results  of  his 
experience  as  follows:  'Called  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  city 
without  previous  service  in  the  government,  and  believing  that 
the  first  duty  of  a  public  officer  charged  with  the  disbursement  of 
millions  of  dollars  of  the  public  money  was  to  search  the  printed 
reports  of  the  city  government  for  accounts  that  would  show  the 
cost  from  year  to  year  of  equipping  and  maintaining  the  various 
departments  of  municipal  service,  I  was  amazed  to  discover  that 
practically  there  were  none.     I  have  in  consequence  been  obliged 
to  devote  an  inordinate  amount  of  time  to  the  work  of  securing 
this  information  and  of  arranging  it  in  convenient  form  for  use, 
the  time  thus  spent  amounting  often  to  several  hours  a  day  for 
weeks  at  a  stretch.'     What  must  be  the  difificulty  of  the  average 
citizen  of  the  average  American  city  in  trying  to  understand  his 
citv's  finances?"     Mr.  Clow  goes  on  to  sav  that  "intelligible  re- 


126  THE    FINANCIAL    REPORTS    OF    MUNICIPALITIES. 

ports  are  not  enough.  Our  final  study  of  municipal  finance  must 
be  comparative.  For  that  p-urpose  we  must  have  many  financial 
statements  arranged  with  such  identity  of  plan  that  they  can  be 
compared.     Our  material  must  be  thrown  into  statistical  form." 

It  seems  to  be  the  first  and  chief  desire  of  students  of  ail 
branches  of  municipal  alifairs  to  institute  comparison  between  dif- 
ferent cities.  There  is  a  strong  predilection  to  introduce  statements 
showing  the  per  capita  cost  in  different  cities  for  the  same  kind 
of  service,  e.  g.,  police  force,  fire  protection,  the  maintenance  of 
schools,  etc.  This  is  an  extremely  difficult  and  unsatisfactory 
undertaking,  since  satisfactory  bases  for  such  comparisons  are 
not  to  be  had  in  intercensal  years  owing  to  exaggerated  and 
varying  estimates  of  population.  For  instance,  Mr.  August  Her- 
mann, of  Cincinnati,  read  an  elaborate  and  carefully-prepared 
paper  before  the  Association  for  Municipal  Improvements  in 
November,  1898,  in  which  he  instituted  comparisons  in  respect  to 
departmental  expenditures  per  capita,  etc.,  for  twenty-nine  of  the 
principal  cities  of  the  country.  In  every  case  but  one  the  figures 
showing  the  estimated  population  for  1898  ended  in  three  ciphers, 
and  in  some  cases  five  ciphers.  Mr.  Hermann's  material  was  ob- 
tained from  city  ofificials,  and  he  gives  500,000  as  the  official  esti- 
mate for  the  population  of  Baltimore  in  1898.  In  the  Charities  Re- 
view for  March,  1899,  we  find  an  article  in  which  the  comparative 
per  capita  cost  of  outdoor  relief  in  various  cities  is  set  forth.  In 
this  article  the  official  estimate  of  the  population  for  the  city  of 
Baltimore  in  1898  is  given  625,270.  The  Baltimore  Health  De- 
partment's estimate  of  the  population  of  the  city  in  1898,  was 
541,000. 

The  latest  attempt  at  compiling  on  a  large  scale  statistics  con- 
cerning the  cities  of  the  country  is  found  in  an  article  entitled 
"Statistics  of  Cities"  in  the  Bulletin  of  the  Department  of  Labor, 
No.  24,  September,  1899.  In  his  introduction  Hon.  Carroll  D. 
Wright  states  that  "An  examination  of  the  reports  showed  that 
very  few  facts  were  reported  uniformly  by  all  the  cities,  and  even 
the  important  financial  statements  were  presented  in  so  many 
different  forms  as  to  preclude  such  classification  of  the  various 
items  as  seemed  necessary  for  a  satisfactory  comparison.     .     .     . 


E.    M.    HARTWELL.  12/ 


A  schedule  of  inquiries  was  accordingly  prepared,  and  the  work 
taken  up  by  the  agents  of  the  department." 

The  result  of  the  work,  judging  from  the  tables  presented  in 
the  article  referred  to  above,  can  hardly  be  considered  satisfactory 
even  as  establishing  a  base  line  for  future  operations.  For  in- 
stance, the  tax  rate  per  $1000  of  Chicago  is  given  as  $83.65,  and 
the  tax  rate  per  $1000  for  Boston  is  given  at  $13.60.  Although 
attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  Chicago  tax  rate  as  stated 
does  not  include  a  park  tax  of  from  $9  to  $11.50,  no  mention  is 
made  of  the  fact  that  in  Chicago  real  estate  is  assessed  at  only 
ten  or  eleven  per  cent,  of  its  value,  whereas  in  Boston  the  assess- 
ors profess  to  assess  real  estate  at  ninety  per  cent,  of  its  value. 
Again,  in  "Table  X,  City  Schools  and  Libraries,"  the  city  of  Bos- 
ton is  credited  with  11  high  schools  and  59  under  the  head  of 
"All  Other."  Fifty-nine  may  be  taken  to  include  the  grammar 
.«=chools  of  the  city,  in  addition  to  which  there  are  more  than  180 
primary  schools,  no  mention  of  which  is  made  in  the  table  in 
question. 

No  very  searching  investigation  of  the  accounts  set  forth 
in  the  reports  of  individual  cities  is  necessary  to  discover  that 
there  is  frequently  great  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  systems  of 
bookkeeping  followed  by  different  departments  of  the  same  mu- 
nicipality. Mr.  Clow,  already  quoted,  compliments  the  reports 
of  the  City  Auditor  of  Boston,  but  it  could  be  readily  shown  that 
a  very  considerable  diversity  has  existed  between  the  methods  of 
many  of  the  departments  of  the  city  of  Boston  and  the  Auditor's 
Department  in  classifying  expenditures,  under  the  general  heads 
of  maintenance  and  supplies,  for  instance.  So  marked  is  this 
diversity  that  one  of  the  first  steps  of  the  Statistics  Department 
Vv^as  to  recommend  a  uniform  system  of  classifying  accounts  to 
the  end  that  the  reports  of  the  departments  and  of  the  Auditor 
might  agree  more  nearly  with  each  other. 

In  his  valedictory  address  in  1894  Mayor  Matthews  says:  "The 
annual  reports  of  the  different  departments  I  found  to  be  much 
fuller  than  those  published  by  most  cities,  but  they  were  deficient 
in  financial  information.  Taking,  for  instance,  the  annual  reports 
of  the  several  departments  for  the  year  1890  we  find  that  the  City 
Architect  has  nothing  to  say  about  the  cost  of  our  school  houses 


128  THE   FINANCIAL    REPORTS    OF    MUNICIPALITIES. 

and  other  public  buildings  except  in  respect  to  the  payments  dur- 
ing that  particular  year.  The  Board  of  Ferry  Commissioners 
present  a  'statement'  of  the  cost  of  the  department  from  the  pur- 
chase of  the  ferries  which  is  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  out 
of  the  way,  and  a  'trial  balance'  worthy  of  the  most  advanced 
style  of  speculative  railroad  bookkeeping.  The  Trustees  of  the 
Public  Library  furnish  a  list  of  the  Trustees  and  Examining  Com- 
mittees for  thirty-nine  years,  as  well  as  much  other  interesting 
information,  but  omit  all  mention  of  the  millions  of  dollars  in 
process  of  expenditure  upon  the  new  building  on  Dartmouth 
street.  The  report  of  the  Water  Board  contains  a  short  and  in- 
sufficient, if  not  inaccurate,  statement  of  the  'cost  of  construction 
of  the  water  works,'  but  not  a  figure  concerning  total  expendi- 
tures, total  receipts,  net  cost,  loans  issued,  changes  in  rates,  de- 
partment charges,  and  other  facts  necessary  to  a  correct  under- 
standing of  our  water  works  finances;  nor  is  there  anything  to 
show  the  operation  of  the  sinking  funds  or  the  steady  increase  of 
the  debt.  .  .  .  It  may  be  said  of  the  department  reports  as  a 
whole  that  they  contained  little  information  of  the  kind  desired, 
and  that  such  information  as  they  did  contain  was  always  insufB- 
cient,  generally  inaccurate,  and  sometimes  purposely  mislead- 
ing." 

One  source  of  confusion  in  the  departmental  reports  of  Boston 
was  found  in  the  fact  that  they  generally  related  to  a  calendar 
year,  whereas  the  fiscal  year  closed  on  the  30th  of  April.  Mayor 
Matthews  was  instrumental  in  bringing  about  a  change  in  the 
fiscal  year,  which  now  terminates  on  the  31st  of  January,  and  the 
departmental  reports  are  made  to  cover  the  events  of  the  fiscal 
year. 

Under  the  present  administration  reports  of  expert  account- 
ants in  regard  to  the  financial  affairs  of  the  various  departments 
have  been  had  in  several  instances,  and  under  the  Revised  Ordi- 
nances of  1898  the  City  Auditor  is  empowered  with  the  approval 
of  the  Mayor  to  designate  expert  accountants  to  examine  the 
books  of  the  departments  periodically. 

The  following  statement  by  the  Comptroller  of  Chicago,  taken 
from  "Finances  of  Chicago,  1897,"  is  in  point:  "Too  severe  a  criti- 
cism cannot  be  made  upon  the  lack  of  system  prevalent  and  the 


E.    M.    HARTWELL.  1 29 


absolute  neglect  to  post  the  books  and  accounts  in  the  Special 
Assessment  Bureau  of  the  Department  of  Public  Works  in  past 
administrations.  It  was  discovered  by  this  administration  soon 
after  it  came  into  office  that  the  books  and  accounts  of  that  bu- 
reau were  more  than  five  years  unposted,  and  your  Comptroller 
was  forced  to  refuse  to  honor  any  vouchers  for  the  payment  of 
rebates  because  of  his  inability  to  properly  check  the  correctness 
of  such  vouchers  from  the  books  of  that  bureau." 

The  recently-issued  report,  for  1899,  by  the  Water  Commis- 
sioner of  Boston,  contains  a  series  of  reports  of  a  special  expert  ac- 
countant through  whose  recommendation  the  bookkeeping  of  the 
department  has  been  greatly  simplified  and  improved  during  the 
last  three  years.  The  Commissioner  states  that  when  he  assumed 
office  the  stock  books  of  the  department  called  for  material 
amounting  to  $62,529  in  value,  whereas  the  inventory  that  was 
made  disclosed  stock  on  hand  amoimting  to  $114,040  in  value,  a 
difiference  of  $51,511.  Under  the  improved  system  of  bookkeep- 
ing introduced  at  the  instance  of  the  expert  accountant,  the  differ- 
ence in  stock  on  hand  and  the  amount  called  for  by  the  books  at 
the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  1896  was  only  $573. 

Having  studied  a  considerable  number  of  similar  financial  re- 
ports of  American  cities  taken  a't  random,  it  seems  to  me  that  they 
may  be  fairly  criticised  as  follows:  They  contain  much  ill-digested 
material,  which  is  too  frequently  presented  in  unsightly  and  for- 
bidding form.  They  usually  relate  to  a  short  period — frequently 
only  to  the  year  covered  by  the  report.  Too  often  the  reader  is 
required  to  add  long  columns  of  figures,  sometimes  extending 
over  several  pages,  in  order  to  learn  the  total  amounts  involved. 
Percentage  relations  are  rarely  set  forth.  Summary  statements 
are  too  infrequently  given.  Capital  and  loan  accounts,  espe- 
cially capital  accounts,  are  largely  neglected,  or  are  inadequate. 
Trial  balances  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence.  Debt  state- 
ments are  difficult  to  interpret.  Schedules  of  employes  are  im- 
perfect or  lacking.  Comparative  tabular  presentations  of  sum- 
maries for  a  series  of  years  are  few  and  meagre.  The  amount  of 
work  done  under  the  heads  of  construction  and  repairs,  and  the 
value  of  services  rendered  are  seldom  even  attempted  to  be  set 
forth  completely  and  intelligibly. 


130  THE    FINANCIAL    REPORTS    OF    MUNICIPALITIES. 

The  reasons  for  confusion  and  lack  of  uniformity  in  municipal 
reports  and  in  their  methods  of  accounting  seem  to  me  not  to  be 
far  to  seek.  American  municipalities  have  developed  recently  and 
irregularly  out  of  town  and  village  communities,  and  present  what 
may  be  termed  overgrowth  and  underdevelopment.  The  words 
of  the  poet, 

"It  is  not  growing  like  a  tree,  in  bulk, 
Doth  make  man  better  be," 
apply  as  well  to  aggregations  of  men  as  to  individuals.  City 
government,  so-called,  is  full  of  rural  survivals  masquerading  un- 
der quasi  metropolitan  forms.  Administrative  machinery  which 
was  well  adapted  to  the  government  of  country  towns  cannot  read- 
ily and  smoothly  be  adapted  to  the  adequate  performance  of  met- 
ropolitan functions.  Our  cities  have  grown  so  rapidly  that  their 
traditions  are  still  of  a  semi-rural  nature.  One  might  almost  say 
of  the  denizens  of  most  cities  in  the  United  States,  "Scratch  a 
citizen  and  you  will  find  a  rustic."  This  country  has  no  mediaeval 
urban  traditions  or  examples,  such  as  have  exercised  a  helpful 
influence  on  the  development  of  the  great  cities  of  Europe.  Out 
of  latent  or  germinal  organs,  so  to  speak,  the  European  cities  in 
many  instances  have  been  able  to  fashion  effective  instruments 
wherewith  to  meet  new  and  distinctively  modern  needs. 

"The  Germans  of  our  generation,"  says  Dr.  Albert  Shaw,  "have 
taken  their  old  framework  of  city  government  as  they  found  it  and 
have  proceeded  to  use  it  for  new  and  wonderful  purposes,  altering 
it  somewhat  from  time  to  time,  but  not  allowing  its  defects  to  para- 
lyze the  varied  activities  of  the  household." 

But  the  pressure  of  problems,  due  to  overgrowth  in  our  urban 
communities  is  beginning  to  force  us  into  attempts  to  attain  to 
higher  and  m.ore  specialized  forms  of  development.  We  are,  so 
to  speak,  in  the  stage  of  growing  pains,  similar  to  those  which  are 
incident  to  the  period  of  accelerated  adolescent  growth  in  the  hu- 
man being.  We  must  slough  ofif  old  atrophied  organs  and  de- 
velop new  mechanisms — especially  organs  of  co-ordination  and  of 
central  control.  It  is  the  part  of  prudence  and  economy  to  profit 
where  we  can  by  the  example  and  experience  of  more  highly  spe- 
cialized forms  of  civic  organism. 


E,    M.    HARTWELL.  I3I 


"The  tendency  of  modern  legislation,"  says  Sir  James  Bell,  one 
of  the  recent  Lord  Mayors  of  Glasgow,  "has  been  to  bring  muni- 
cipal government  more  and  more  strictly  under  the  authority  of 
Parliament,  and  to  give  direct  statutory  recognition  and  sanction 
to  many  functions  and  undertakings  which  in  early  times  depended 
for  their  validity  on  use  and  wont,  or  on  the  vaguely  recognized 
laws  and  customs  of  burghs." 

The  English  Local  Government  Board  may  be  looked  upon  as 
a  permanent  expert  committee,  to  which  Parliament  has  delegated 
certain  powers  of  supervision  and  control.  The  board  is  of  recent 
origin,  and  dates  from  1871.  As  is  well  known,  it  exercises  large 
powers  of  audit  over  certain  classes  of  local  government  authori- 
ties, and  has  power  to  disallow  and  surcharge  questionable  items 
in  the  accounts  presented  to  its  district  auditors.  Certain  classes 
of  local  authorities  may  not  purchase  or  alienate  land  or  incur 
loans  for  public  works  without  the  authorization  of  the  Local 
Government  Board  after  due  investigation.  Through  the  opera- 
tion of  the  laws  requiring  most  local  authorities  to  report  fully  and 
regularly  in  regard  to  their  financial  afifairs,  the  Local  Government 
Board  exercises  a  very  considerable  direct  as  well  as  indirect  influ- 
ence upon  the  financial  reports  of  county  councils,  municipal  cor- 
porations, town  councils,  etc.  The  annual  reports  of  the  Local 
Government  Board  constit-ute  a  mine  of  information  regarding 
local  taxation  and  expenditure,  e.  g.,  that  for  1897  contains  gen- 
eral digests  and  many  detailed  analyses  of  financial  returns  from 
over  34,000  local  authorities  of  various  kinds  in  England  and 
Wales.  Among  them  may  be  instanced  the  accounts  of  647  poor 
law  unions,  61  county  councils,  304  municipal  corporation  bor- 
oughs, 303  town  councils  acting  as  urban  sanitary  authorities, 
4069  parish  councils,  2400  school  boards,  6473  boards  of  highway 
surveyors  or  of  highway  parishes.  Through  its  district  auditors 
disallowances  and  surcharges  in  the  matter  of  accounts  were  con- 
firmed and  remitted  in  821  cases;  confirmed  and  not  remitted  in 
45  cases,  and  reversed  in  57  cases.  Under  the  Local  Expenses 
Act  of  1887  the  applications  of  3049  local  authorities  to  issue  loans 
or  to  incur  indebtedness  were  made  to  the  Local  Government 
Board.  In  2603  cases  sanction  was  given,  and  in  446  cases  it  was 
refused. 


132  THE    FINANCIAL    REPORTS    OF    MUNICIPALITIES. 

A  disproportionate  amount  of  activity  is  devoted  by  State  Leg- 
islatures in  the  United  States  to  the  local  affairs  of  cities.  Legis- 
lators from  the  rural  districts  are  apt  to  be  deeply  imbued  with 
the  notion  that  they  are  by  nature  and  lack  of  training  especially 
fitted  to  exercise  a  determining  influence  in  the  solution  of  urban 
problems.  Cities  are  forced  by  reason  of  their  legal  dependence 
upon  the  State  to  seek  authority  from  the  Legislature  for  their 
undertakings,  and  to  submit  many  of  their  affairs  to  State  control, 
but  the  legislative  control  of  cities  is  too  frequently  marked  by  a 
meddling,  partisan  spirit  and  by  crude  and  hurried  measures.  Re- 
cent attempts  in  New  York  and  Indiana  to  secure  the  enactment 
of  statutes  for  the  establishment  of  State  "municipal  government 
boards"  indicate  the  direction  in  which  a  remedy  for  the  present 
untoward  condition  of  things  is  likely  to  be  sought. 

Massachusetts  is  a  State  in  which  city  problems  may  be  said  to 
preponderate.  Kossuth  characterized  it  more  than  fifty  years  ago 
as  "The  Commonwealth  of  Cities."  In  1895  sixty-five  per  cent,  of 
the  enumerated  population  of  Massachusetts  was  found  in  its 
thirty-two  incorporated  cities.  In  1898  the  cities  of  Massachu- 
setts embraced  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  assessed  valuation, 
eighty-seven  per  cent,  of  the  gross  debt,  ninety-six  per  cent,  of  the 
sinking  funds  and  eight-five  per  cent,  of  the  net  debt  within  the 
State.  In  1898  the  State  of  Massachusetts  had  a  net  debt  of  $12,- 
000,000  in  round  numbers,  while  the  net  debt  of  Massachusetts 
cities  in  the  same  year  amounted  to  $102,000,000,  and  the  net 
debt  of  the  three  hundred-odd  towns  of  the  State  amounted  to  less 
than  $9,500,000. 

The  Massachusetts  Legislature  of  1899  was  in  session  from  Jan- 
uary until  June.  Nearly  1200  matters  presented  to  it  were  re- 
ferred to  its  37  committees.  Of  those  matters  fully  12  per  cent, 
related  more  or  less  directly  to  the  city  of  Boston,  and  of  584  acts 
and  resolves  passed  by  the  Legislature  47  related  to  that  city. 
Four  hundred  and  ninety-three  matters,  or  about  42  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  number,  were  referred  to  five  principal  committees,  as 
follows:  (i)  To  Judiciary  Committee,  131  matters;  (2)  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Cities,  119;  (3)  to  Committee  on  Metropolitan  Affairs, 
94;  (4)  to  Committee  on  Probate  and  Insolvency,  90;  (5)  to  Com- 
mittee on  Election  Laws,  59.     Of  matters  relating  to  local  gov- 


E.    M.    HARTWELL.  1 33 


ernment  24  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Towns,  19  to  the 
Committee  on  Counties,  94  to  the  Committee  on  Metropolitan 
Affairs,  and  119  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Cities;  total, 
256.  Of  the  total,  213  matters,  or  83  per  cent,  (which  were  re- 
ferred to  the  Committees  on  Cities  and  Metropolitan  Affairs),  re- 
lated to  matters  of  municipal  government.  Of  the  213  matters 
relating  to  municipal  government  88,  or  41  per  cent.,  concerned 
the  city  of  Boston  more  or  less  directly. 

The  Governor  of  the  State  is  evidently  of  the  opinion  that  the 
time  of  the  Legislature  is  too  much  taken  up  with  municipal 
affairs.  The  following  extract  is  taken  from  the  inaugural  address 
of  Governor  Wolcott,  delivered  January  5,  1899:  "There  appears 
to  be  among  many  of  our  citizens  a  growing  tendency,  without 
sufficient  grounds  of  public  necessity,  to  invoke  the  paramount 
power  of  the  Legislature  in  the  enactment  of  laws  relating  to  the 
affairs  of  government  of  cities,  and  especially  of  the  city  of  Boston. 
This  results  in  the  annual  consideration  by  the  Legislature  of  a 
great  number  of  measures,  many  of  them  honestly  intended  by 
their  promoters  to  cure  serious  evils,  which  are  admitted  by  all  to 
exist  in  the  operation  of  our  municipal  government,  Ixit  which 
may  have  their  source  in  causes  far  too  deep  to  be  permanently 
affected  by  such  legislation,  while  others  spring  from  a  desire  to 
meet  some  temporary  exigency  of  persons  or  politics,  which,  with- 
out S'Uch  legislation,  time  is  likely  speedily  to  remove.  1  think 
there  is  danger  of  this  tendency  constantly  to  seek  new  legislation 
being  carried  too  far." 

Under  the  pressure  of  necessity  a  spontanetous  impulse  both  on 
the  part  of  the  State  authorities  of  Massachusetts  and  of  the  city 
authorities  of  Boston  has  already  declared  itself  to  secure  more 
scientific  and  uniform  methods  in  the  preparation  and  publication 
of  financial  reports.  Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  action 
of  Mayor  Quincy's  administration  in  the  establishment  of  the  Sta- 
tistics Department,  the  employment  of  expert  accountants,  and 
the  enlarged  power  of  the  City  Auditor  over  the  bookkeeping  of 
the  several  executive  departments. 

In  1887  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  established  the  office  oi 
Comptroller  of  County  Accounts.     The  reason  for  this  action  was 


134  THE    FINANCIAL    REPORTS    OF    MUNICIPALITIES 

found  in  the  lax  methods  of  many  of  the  county  officials  and  of  the 
malfeasance,  not  to  say  corruption,  of  certain  of  them  in  connec- 
tion with  county  expenditures.  The  duties  prescribed  for  the 
Comptroller  were  similar  to  those  imposed  upon  the  Commission- 
ers of  Savings  Banks.  In  recent  years,  owing-  to  the  enactment  of 
new  laws,  the  duties  of  the  Comptroller  have  been  somewhat  en- 
larged ;  through  force  of  circumstances  he  has  come  to  be  a  sort  of 
general  adviser  of  the  county  treasurers  and  other  county  officers. 
The  Comptroller  declares  that  "order  has  been  brought  out  of  dis- 
order, accountability  has  been  fixed  and  uniformity  of  system  has 
been  established." 

I  believe  that  the  provision  contained  in  Section  15,  Article  II, 
of  the  proposed  Municipal  Corporations  Act,  namely,  "That  ever\' 
city  shall  keep  books  of  account  and  make  stated  financial  reports 
at  least  as  often  as  once  a  year  to  the  State  Comptroller  or  other 
fiscal  officer,  in  accordance  with  forms  and  methods  prescribed 
by  him,  which  shall  be  applicable  to  all  cities  within  the  State," 
will  commend  itself  to  very  many  officials,  both  State  and  munici- 
pal, wherever  the  confusion  and  inconvenience  due  to  present 
conditions  shall  be  clearly  recognized.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
adoption  of  such  a  scheme  is  clearly  justified  by  the  experience  of 
the  Local  Government  Board  in  England,  of  the  State  Examiners 
of  Accounts  in  Wyoming  and  the  Dakotas,  and  of  the  Controller 
of  County  Accounts  in  Massachusetts. 

The  adoption  of  such  a  scheme  may  also  be  urged  on  general 
principles,  because  it  is  likely  to  promote  better  administration  of 
financial  affairs  through  the  development  of  a  higher  degree  of 
intelligence  and  responsibility  on  the  part  of  State  and  municipal 
officials,  and  the  awakening  of  a  greater  interest  on  the  par't  of  the 
general  public  and  the  taxpayers  by  reason  of  the  greater  publicity 
v^hich  would  attach  to  m.unicipal  expenditures.  Students  of  mu- 
nicipal affairs  would  be  greatly  helped  in  their  efforts  to  arrive  at  a 
clearer  understanding  of  the  helps  and  hindrances  which  must  be 
taken  into  account  in  their  attempts  to  describe  or  influence  the 
process  of  municipal  evolution.  Local  officials  through  the  rec- 
ognition of  good  work  would  be  stimulated  and  encouraged  to  do 
their  best.     In  the  end  the  successful  working  of  such  a  scheme 


E.    M.    HARTWELL.  135 


ccRild  hardly  fail  to  increase  the  number  of  intelligent  and  public- 
spirited  citizens,  citizens  who  would  deserve  to  be  characterized  as 
"pious"  in  the  sense  in  which  that  word  was  used  in  the  city  com- 
monwealths of  antiquity. 

"To  me  a  city  that  hath  not  pious  citizens,"  said  Chrysostom, 
"is  meaner  than  any  village,  more  ignoble  than  any  cave." 


136  THE    IMPORTANCE   OF    UNIFORMITY. 


THE  IMPORTANCE   OF  UNIFORMITY  FOR  PUR- 
POSES OF  COMPARISON. 


Dr.  Samuel  E.  Sparling, 

Secretary  of  the  League  of  Wisconsin  Municipalities, 
University  of  Wisconsin. 


Before  entering  upon  the  discussion  of  the  subject  assigned  me, 
I  desire  to  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  express  the  deep  obli- 
gation which  students  of  municipal  government,  as  well  as  the 
American  public  owe  to  the  magnificent  leadership  of  the  National 
Municipal  League  in  this  important  field  of  American  administra- 
tive reorganization.  There  could  be  no  clearer  demonstration  of 
the  intelligence  and  breadth  of  thought  leading  the  forces  of  re- 
form in  the  United  States  than  is  presented  by  the  work  and  ef- 
forts of  the  National  League.  The  discussions  in  your  conven- 
tions have  been  characterized  by  a  practical  turn  which  has  given 
your  suggestions  a  permanent  hold  upon  the  best  thought  of  our 
public  life;  in  fact,  it  is  to  the  National  League  that  Legislatures 
must  now  turn  for  carefully  digested  plans  for  municipal  reorgani- 
zation. The  manner  in  which  you  have  organized  the  forces  desir- 
ing better  government  is  characterized  by  a  broad,  statesmanlike 
view  of  municipal  conditions.  The  progress  thus  far  secured  au- 
gurs well  for  the  future.  More  normal  conditions  of  municipal 
unity  and  harmony  bid  fair  to  succeed  an  era  characterized  by  in- 
stitutional chaos  and  imperfection.  You  might  fairly  claim  that 
your  work  should  cease  with  a  judicious  presentation  of  the  lines 
of  development  made  necessary  by  prevailing  conditions  in  our 
municipalities;  but  in  addition  to  this  task,  your  members  are  of- 
ten compelled  to  assume  the  distasteful  role  of  lobbyist  in  order  to 
secure  adequate  consideration  of  your  propositions. 

I  am  requested  by  your  committee  to  discuss  the  problem  of 
uniform  accounting  for  comparative  purposes  with  especial  refer- 
ence to  the  cities  of  Wisconsin.     It  were  well,  then,  at  the  outset, 


SAMUKL    E     SPARLING.  137 


that  we  should  understand  the  conditions  prevaihng  in  those  cit- 
ies, which  are  to  form  the  backg-roimd  of  this  paper,  and  how  far, 
when  viewed  as  a  group,  they  differ  from  the  cities  of  other  States. 
In  the  first  place,  it  should  be  noted  that  the  Wisconsin  cities, 
with  the  single  exception  of  the  city  of  Milwaukee,  belong  to  the 
group  of  lesser  municipalities,  the  population  ranging  in  all  below 
35,000,  and  in  a  great  majority  of  them,  below  20,000.  We  are  then 
confronted  with  conditions  which  indicate  an  exceedingly  uniform 
municipal  life.  This  fact,  doubtless,  is  sufficient  to  distinguish  the 
general  condition  of  municipalities  in  Wisconsin  from  that  in  the 
more  populous  States  of  the  Union,  and  particularly  of  the  North. 
Our  problem,  then,  is  that  of  the  small  city— a  problem  which  in 
many  respects  is  one  of  great  difficulty,  since  it  involves  a  lesser 
m-unicipal  vitality  and  possibly  a  lesser  civic  interest.  But  while 
the  State  of  Ohio  and  similar  States  possess  a  great  number  of 
larger  municipalities,  there  yet  remains  in  each  State  a  large  ma- 
jority of  smaller  cities  which  must  be  regarded  as  an  important 
factor  in  any  scheme  of  financial  organization.  In  most  instances 
we  have  been  too  prone  to  overlook  the  smaller  municipality  in 
the  consideration  of  general  municipal  problems. 

It  is  now  some  time  since  the  writer  first  became  interested  in 
the  matter  of  uniform  accounting  and  its  bearing  upon  the  finan- 
cial and  general  progress  of  our  smaller  cities,  particularly  those  of 
Wisconsin.  Nevertheless,  in  passing,  he  feels  it  necessary  to  re- 
cord an  apology,  which,  however,  is  found  in  numerous  places  in 
discussions  pertaining  to  local  financial  conditions;  it  is  an  apology 
for  ignorance — an  ignorance  which  is  inevitable  in  the  presence 
of  badly  recorded  financial  data. 

In  the  progress  of  an  investigation  into  this  matter,  a  feeling 
was  encountered  which  indicates  that  there  attaches  to  the  subject 
of  municipal  accountmg,  as  to  other  departments  of  investigation, 
a  two-fold  interest,  which  may  be  conveniently  designated  as  aca- 
demic and  practif^al.  This  feeling  is  largely  entertained  by  the  city 
officials  from  whom  information  was  sought.  As  a  rule,  it  was 
found  that  each  official  was  satisfied  with  his  system  whether  it  pos- 
sessed meaning  to  others,  or  was  intelligible  only  to  himself;  and 
that  he  looked  upon  any  inquiry  from  outside  as  wholly  foreign  to 
the  importance  of  his  work.     Some  one  has  said  that  the  work  of 


138  THE    IMPORTANCE    OF    UNIFORMITY. 

the  investigator  ceases  when  his  problem  has  been  sufficiently  de- 
veloped to  arouse  a  public  interest  which  will  lead  to  proper  action; 
but  in  the  subject  under  discussion,  the  public  is  not  likely  to  take 
an  active  interest;  and  our  officials,  grooved  in  accustomed  ways 
of  doing  things,  have  intimated  that  the  academic  interest  or  bene- 
fits are  far  greater  than  the  practical  interest  or  benefits  either  to 
the  individual  city  or  to  the  cities  collectively.  It  is  urged  by  the 
officials  that  the  expense  of  retaining  such  an  accountant  force  as 
seems  to  them  necessary  for  complete  itemization,  would  be  out  of 
proportion  to  the  benefits  conferred.  The  fact  that  this  feeling  is 
also  shared  by  many  who  are  not  public  accountants  indicates  that 
considerable  pressure  will  have  to  be  brought  to  bear  before  the 
desired  remedies  can  be  secured.  Those  who  have  inquired  into 
these  objections  find  that  they  are  based  upon  insufficient  reasons, 
and  that  they  may  be  readily  overcome  by  a  fair  statement  of  the 
benefits  of  a  system  of  uniform  accounting. 

We  are  rightly  told  by  your  committee  "that  the  desirability  of 
requiring  uniformity  in  city  reports  is  so  obvious  as  to  require  but 
brief  consideration,"  and  further  that  such  uniformity  "will  prob- 
ably prove  to  be  a  first  step  toward  a  well-organized  system  of 
administrative  control  over  the  finances  of  the  municipality." 
These  observations  are  eminently  true,  but  in  the  light  of  much 
of  our  past  experience,  it  may  be  urged  with  equal  emphasis  that 
obvious  steps  in  reform  are  at  times  the  most  difficult  to  secure. 
The  very  fact  that  a  system  of  uniform  accounting  is  "a  first  step" 
to  a  system  of  financial  control  is  likely  tO'  arouse  a  public  senti- 
ment which  will  hold  in  disfavor  any  plan  calculated  to  limit  in 
any  manner  the  traditional  view  of  local  self-government.  Yet  a 
proposition  so  elementary  in  its  character  and  so  fundamental  in 
its  relations  to  sound  financial  practice  should  speedily  overcome 
any  theoretical,  traditional,  or  sentimental  objection,  when  the 
value  of  the  proposed  innovation  and  the  benefits  to  the  munici- 
pality which  must  result  from  it  have  once  been  fully  set  forth. 
We  must  remember  that  it  is  only  by  long  and  persistent  effort 
that  old  forms  and  practices  are  sloughed  off  and  governmental 
operations  reduced  to  simplicity.  Local  habits,  local  traditions, 
"the  good  old  ways,"  are  often  easier,  even  when  they  are  mean- 
ingless and  wholly  inadequate  for  best  results. 


SAMUI'X   E.    SPARLING.  I  39 


Your  committee  has  referred  to  the  lessons  which  may  be 
drawn  from  the  business  world  and  particularly  to  that  of  the 
benefits  which  accrue  to  private  business  undertakings  through 
the  use  of  careful  and  improved  methods  of  accounting.  That 
business  house  which  should  be  careless  in  the  matter  of  its  book- 
keeping may  be  confronted  with  unexpected  losses  which  the  ac- 
counts have  failed  to  reveal.  Unquestionably  there  is,  then,  a  defi- 
nite relationship  between  careful  bookkeeping  and  business  thrift. 
Facts  which  may  be  learned  from  private  business  carry  their  rig- 
orous lessons  into  public  life.  There  is  in  the  management  of 
public  business  a  necessity  for  the  same  careful  and  accurate  ac- 
counting that  is  everywhere  so  manifest  in  the  administration  of 
private  business  undertakings.  Public  expenditures,  especially 
for  local  purposes,  have  too  often  in  America  been  made  in  the 
presence  of  prodigal  resources — resources  so  lavish  that  they  de- 
manded no  careful  accounting  to  show  whether  profits  were  ac- 
cruing or  losses  were  being  sustained.  Our  municipalities  have 
generally  been  wedded  to  a  loose  and  prodigal  policy  which  has 
frequently  resulted  in  financial  confusion  and  in  loss  of  valuable 
credits.  From  a  financial  point  of  view,  our  municipalities  have 
too  often  conducted  their  administration  in  accordance  with  the 
well-known  utterance  of  a  Western  Senator  and  promoter,  who 
emphatically  declared  that  he  would  not  own  a  business  that 
would  not  bear  mismanagement.  It  may  be  true  that  our  city  offi- 
cials are  governed  by  the  desire  to  make  both  ends  meet,  but 
through  loose  methods  of  attempting  this,  burdens  have  fallen 
heavily  upon  the  taxpayer,  and  future  credits  have  been  dis- 
counted. 

Although  the  writer  believes  that  dishonest  motives  are  too  fre- 
quently urged,  by  a  critical  public,  against  our  municipal  ofiicers, 
and  that  municipal  office-holding  is  not  presumptive  evidence  of 
criminal  intent,  yet  he  finds  justification  and  necessity  for  refer- 
ring to  the  well-known  fact  that  systematic  and  organized  theft 
has  been  carried  on  by  the  officers  of  some  of  the  larger  munici- 
palities of  the  United  States,  through  juggling  with  public  ac- 
counts and  through  failure  to  give  them  due  publicity.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  illegal  expenditure  of  public  funds  made  possible  by  the 
lack  of  publicity  of  accounts,  there  have  been  expenditures  lavish 


140  THE    IMPORTANCE    OF    UNIFORMITY. 

almost  to  the  point  of  criminal  liability,  and  this  criminal  prodi- 
gality has  in  most  cases  sprung-  from  error  in  judgment  and  from 
ignorance  due  to  lack  of  any  means  of  instituting  a  comparison 
with  the  experience  of  other  cities  conducting  similar  lines  of 
work.  Costly  and  needless  experiments  have  in  some  instances 
been  carried  on  by  smaller  municipalities  in  the  State  of  Wiscon- 
sin, partly  because  of  the  lack  of  well-digested  information,  and 
partly  because  of  the  unwillingness  of  the  officers  in  charge  to 
seek  advice  and  counsel  from  those  whose  experiences  would  have 
been  valuable  to  them.  In  the  interest  of  fairness,  however,  it 
should  be  stated  that  these  cases  are  the  exceptions.  Those  who 
have  had  experience  with  our  Mayors  and  City  Councils  have 
found  that,  as  a  rule,  they  desire  light,  but  that  they  have  been 
unable  to  secure  any  but  vague  notions  of  results  in  other  cities, 
from  a  study  of  their  financial  summaries,  which  require  in  most 
instances  the  personal  interpretation  of  the  accounting  officers. 

A  brief  summary  of  the  causes  which  produced  the  chaotic 
condition  of  accounting  in  the  cities  of  Wisconsin  will  doubtless 
be  equally  applicable  to  other  States.  The  cities  of  Wisconsin 
were  organized,  and  are  still  operating,  under  special  charters, 
which  were  freely  granted  without  proper  regard  for  the  uniform 
conditions  naturally  prevailing  among  the  cities  of  the  State. 
These  enactments  tend  to  emphasize  the  functional  differences  of 
cities,  and  this  would  naturally  afifect  the  value  of  a  system  of  uni- 
form accounting  for  comparative  purposes.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  functional  activities  of  the  great  majority  of  the  cities  of  Wis- 
consin are  sufficiently  uniform  to  admit  of  the  use  of  common 
schedules  in  spite  of  the  disturbances  attending  special  legislation. 
The  effect  of  this  special  legislation  has  been  to  create  differences 
in  organization  rather  than  differences  in  function,  but  in  many 
States  it  is  evident  that  allowance  should  be  made  for  functional 
differences  by  classifying  the  cities  on  some  basis  that  will  readily 
provide  for  these  variations.  The  movement  toward  uniform  ac- 
counting will  be  made  easier  by  the  fact  that  the  State  already  pro- 
vides for  common  sources  of  revenue. 

In  addition  to  special  legislation  there  have  been  practices  of 
our  City  Councils  which  are  far  more  reprehensible  and  far  more 
destructive  of  unity  in  the  financial  operations  of  the  city.    Their 


SAMUEL    E.    SPARLING.  I4I 


loose  methods  of  preparing  the  city  budgets  render  it  practically 
impossible  for  the  accounting  officers  to  group  accounts  according 
to  any  intelligent  plan.  This  is  a  fundamental  cause  of  chaotic 
accounting,  and  one  for  which  the  model  charter  provides  a  rem- 
edy. More  care  and  attention  must  be  given  to  the  preparation  of 
municipal  budgets,  and  the  careless  practice  of  leaving  appropria- 
tions until  the  amounts  are  presented  in  the  form  of  claims  al- 
lowed in  a  liberal  manner — often  by  irresponsible  minor  officials — 
must  be  done  away  with.  These  practices  have  encouraged  loose- 
ness in  all  the  financial  operations  of  the  city,  and  are  naturally 
reflected  in  the  various  accounting  systems.  As  a  result  of  the 
conditions  just  summarized,  a  reign  of  confusion  prevails  among 
the  cities  of  the  State,  and  particularly  in  the  lesser  municipali- 
ties. 

The  value  of  uniform  accounting  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  experi- 
ence of  each  city  along  a  given  line  of  development  is  thus  made 
available  for  all  cities  of  that  group  or  class.  Municipal  govern- 
ment is  not  a  parochial  affair;  on  the  contrary,  no  city  is  so  well 
governed  that  it  can  confine  itself  to  its  own  circle  of  activity  and 
experience.  Parochialism  affects  both  our  smaller  and  our  larger 
cities,  and  often  leads  to  useless  experiments  and  disastrous  re- 
sults. To  avoid  this,  each  city  must  be  made  to  feel  that  it  not 
must  be  reduced  to  an  accurate  and  definite  classification  which 
only  shares  in  the  collective  experience  of  the  cities  of  its  own 
State,  but  that  it  may  still  further  be  considered  a  part  of  the  na- 
tional movement.  In  order  that  this  feeling  of  community  of  in- 
terests may  be  developed,  the  financial  experiences  of  each  city 
shall  be  available  for  other  cities.  A  careful  system  of  uniform 
accounting,  supplemented  by  other  statistical  data,  will  furnish  this 
basis  for  comparison.  From  the  periodic  display  of  the  conditions 
of  revenue  and  expenditure  a  graphic  picture  of  the  financial  prog- 
ress of  the  city,  in  its  relation  to  general  municipal  progress,  will 
be  secured. 

To  change  the  illustration,  a  system  of  uniform  accounting  will 
place  each  city  in  possession  of  a  vantage  ground  from  which  it 
may  view  the  course  of  the  stream  of  revenue  as  it  is  slowly  built 
up  from  the  mingling  of  innumerable  tributaries,  and  may  watch 
it  later  as  it  divides  again  into  various  branches  through  expendi- 


142  THE    IMPORTANXE    OF    UNIFORMITY. 

ture.  In  other  words,  the  officers  of  our  cities  should  view  mu- 
nicipal revenues  and  expenditures  both  as  a  unit,  and  as  con- 
stituent parts  of  that  unit.  Financial  progress  is  largely  relative, 
and  is  revealed  through  comparative  methods.  Comparative  fig- 
ures may  often  be  inconclusive,  but  the  most  careless  official  will 
scarcely  doubt  their  value  as  a  corrective  in  the  development  of  a 
municipal  policy. 

It  is  impossible  on  this  occasion  to  do  more  than  present  a 
summary  of  some  of  the  conditions  which  must  be  considered 
in  the  construction  of  a  plan  for  uniform  accounting.  In  the  first 
place,  the  schedules  should  reflect  as  accurately  as  possible  the 
functional  activity  of  the  individual  city,  and  of  the  cities  of  a  given 
class.  Thus,  as  the  most  convenient  method  of  escaping  great 
functional  dififerences,  it  may  be  necessary  to  group  the  cities  of 
the  State  into  classes  on  the  basis  of  population.  At  the  same  time 
the  intensity  of  municipal  activity  should  be  shown  in  its  relation 
to  the  volume  of  revenue  and  expenditure.  The  schedules  should 
reflect  the  growth  and  intensity  of  functional  activity  of  the  com- 
munity from  the  village  to  the  larger  urban  centre. 

In  the  second  place,  the  revenue  and  expenditure  in  each  depart- 
ment of  municipal  activity  must  be  kept  separate  and  distinct,  and 
where  two  departments  operate  in  close  connection,  one  serving 
the  other,  the  itemization  of  accounts  must  fully  show  this  rela- 
tionship. Until  these  objects  are  secured,  little  progress  towards 
a  system  which  shall  be  valuable  for  comparative  purposes  can  be 
expected.  Cities  controlling  their  own  water  and  electric  lighting 
service  quite  commonly  operate  both  from  the  same  power  plant. 
Though  these  instances  of  municipal  ownership  and  control  are 
few  in  the  State  of  Wisconsin,  they  must,  none  the  less,  be  con- 
sidered in  a  discussion  of  general  financial  results  of  those  cities. 
A  more  general  practice  among  the  cities  of  the  State  is  the  use  by 
the  street  and  fire  departments  of  water  furnished  by  the  water- 
works department  for  sprinkling  the  streets,  flushing  sewers  and 
for  fire  protection.  We  should  expect  that  the  accounts  would 
show  the  exact  relation  of  these  departments  to  each  other,  but 
it  is  found  that  as  a  rule  the  cost  of  the  water  supply  furnished  by 
the  water  department  for  the  use  of  the  other  departments  is  not 
recorded. 


SAMUEL    E.    SPARLING.  1 43 


In  the  third  place,  careful  consideration  must  be  given  to  a 
practice  which  is  quite  common,  and  which  leads  in  many  in- 
stances to  deceptive  results — the  use  of  the  fund  system.  This 
system,  possessing,  as  it  does,  its  own  revenues  and  objects  of 
expenditures,  when  displayed  in  the  summarized  tables  of  the 
city's  revenues  and  expenditure,  often  assumes  a  double  effect; 
it  appears  in  the  specific  items  of  expenditure  and  also  in  sum- 
marized form  as  a  fund  expenditure.  Objectionable  as  it  is  in 
some  of  its  features,  the  system  has  become  so  thoroughly  rooted 
in  the  financial  methods  of  American  cities  that  the  preparation  of 
uniform  schedules  must  consider  this  peculiar  form  of  municipal 
accounting. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  schedules  should  not  only  contain  a 
complete  analysis  of  the  city's  indebtedness,  but  should  also  set 
forth  the  relation  of  that  indebtedness  to  the  debt-paying  power  of 
the  municipality.  The  dif^culties  of  uniform  treatment  of  indebt- 
edness are  not  so  apparent  as  in  other  phases  of  accounting,  yet 
in  this  day  of  growing  municipal  indebtedness,  such  treatment  is 
of  equal  importance. 

In  the  fifth  place,  there  should  be  a  common  nomenclature. 
This  expedient  would  obviate  much  of  the  dil^culty  now  experi- 
enced in  comparing  the  accounts  of  cities.  The  present  use  of 
terms  is  confusing  in  the  extreme.  Almost  no  attempt  is  made  to 
group  similar  items  under  similar  heads.  The  cities,  in  their  ac- 
counts, aften  fail  to  distinguish  among  fines,  fees  and  licenses, 
and  other  sources  of  indirect  revenue.  The  same  observation  is 
equally  true  of  expenditures.  A  system  of  common  terms  for 
common  schedules,  based  upon  the  sources  of  revenue  and  the 
objects  of  expenditure,  must  be  secured  before  the  accounts  of  the 
various  cities  will  be  useful  for  comparison. 

In  the  sixth  place,  comparisons  should  go  further  than  the 
comparison  of  the  financial  results  of  the  various  cities.  They 
should  be  available,  so  far  as  possible,  for  the  local  units  operating 
in  the  same  administrative  area.  For  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  financial  system  of  our  cities  is  an  organic  part  of  the  State 
financial  system,  and  that  it  affects  in  a  very  fundamental  manner 
the  tax-paving  power  of  the  entire  community.     The  citizen  as- 


144  THE    IMPORTANCE    OF    UNIFORMITY. 

sumes  a  number  of  burdens,  and  the  accounting  systems  of  the 
various  units  should  indicate  the  relation  of  these  burdens. 

In  concluding  this  sketch,  it  may  be  well  to  call  attention  to 
some  of  the  results  which  have  been  secured  by  means  of  a  cir- 
cular letter,  copies  of  which  were  sent  not  only  to  the  cities  of 
Wisconsin,  but  to  the  fiscal  officers  of  other  States.  As  was  to  be 
expected,  there  was  expressed  in  the  replies  a  general  feeling  that 
uniform  accounting  was  desirable  and  should  be  secured  if  the  cost 
was  not  too  great.  The  replies  further  show  that  in  addition  to  the 
objections  which  have  already  been  mentioned,  there  is  a  wide- 
spread belief  that  uniform  accounting,  involving,  as  it  does,  cen- 
tral supervision,  is  but  a  step  in  the  development  of  a  centraHza- 
tion;  and  that  such  a  movement  towards  uniformity  will  there- 
fore endanger  the  traditional  local  liberty  which  the  fussy  interfer- 
ence of  legislatures  has  already  well-nigh  overthrown.  But  when 
these  objections  to  State  supervision  have  been  urged  by  the  offi- 
cers of  our  cities,  the  argument  of  the  increased  efficiency  of  city 
government,  and  of  the  more  definite  and  accurate  knowledge  of 
financial  operations  made  possible  through  the  enforcement  of 
r.niform  schedules  has  generally  removed  doubt  as  to  the  good  re- 
sults that  would  follow.  When  it  is  pointed  out  that  through 
such  a  plan  of  central  supervision,  as  will  eliminate  many  of  the 
disturbing  factors  which  now  defeat  a  progressive  policy  of  ad- 
ministration, the  individuality  of  the  city  will  be  rendered  secure 
in  its  free  development,  any  formidable  opposition  will  be  easily 
overcome. 

The  replies  from  prominent  fiscal  officers  of  other  States  have 
often  been  non-committal  upon  the  subject  of  State  supervision, 
while  with  few  exceptions  emphasizing  the  desirability  of  uni- 
form accounting.  It  may  be  significant  that  we  must  go  to  the 
newer  States  for  the  first  important  lessons  in  State  supervision 
of  accounts  that  can  be  drawn  from  American  experience.  Your 
committee  has  referred  to  Wyoming  as  one  of  the  States  which 
has  built  up  the  sphere  of  central  control  over  the  financial 
operations  of  the  locality.  The  Constitution  of  that  State  pro- 
vides for  a  State  Examiner,  whose  duty  it  is  to  examine  local 
and  State  accounts.  The  Legislature  has  defined  and  greatly 
strengthened   the   power   of   this   fiscal   officer.      He   is   empow- 


SAMUEL    E.    SPARLING.  145 


ered  to  enforce  correct  methods  of  keeping  the  financial  ac- 
counts of  the  several  public  institutions  of  the  State.  He 
must  visit  these  institutions  at  least  twice:  in  each  year, 
without  previous  notice  to  the  officers  in  charge,  and  must  make 
a  thorough  inspection  of  the  accounts,  of  the  detailed  items  of  ex- 
penditure, and  of  the  vouchers  therefor.  He  is  furthermore  em- 
powered to  adopt  and  enforce  a  correct,  and  so  far  as  possible,  a 
practicable,  uniform,  system  of  bookkeeping  for  the  local  and  State 
officers,  in  order  to  afford  a  suitable  check  upon  their  actions,  and 
to  insure  a  thorough  supervision  of  the  State  and  local  funds.  In 
short,  the  State  Examiner  has  entire  supervision  of  the  accounts  of 
every  officer  within  the  State,  whether  he  be  an  officer  of  the  State 
or  of  a  county,  municipality  or  a  district;  and  in  case  he  detects  il- 
legal or  extravagant  expenditures  it  becomes  his  duty  to  render 
a  full  report  to  the  proper  authorities  and  to  take  steps  to  correct 
such  expenditures.  The  State  Examiner  informs  the  writer  that 
beneficial  results  have  been  achieved,  and  that  great  savings  have 
been  secured  by  the  system  of  central  inspection ;  that  not  only  has 
there  been  a  return  to  the  public  treasury  of  monies 
which  had  been  either  willfully  or  erroneously  withheld  or  paid 
out,  to  an  amount  averaging  $1000  per  month,  but  the  cost  of  local 
government  has  been  materially  reduced.  In  1892,  the  cost  of 
county  government  was  $417,000,  while  in  1895  it  was  but  $328,- 
000.  The  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Wyoming  justi- 
fies the  enthusiasm  of  the  State  Examiner  in  the  following  words: 
"The  creation  of  this  office  is  an  innovation,  but  the  test  of  time 
and  experience  has  shown  that  the  framers  of  the  fundamental  law 
did  wisely  in  taking  this  step.  It  has  saved  much  money  for  the 
people,  and  public  officials  undoubtedly  proceed  wath  more  care 
when  they  realize  that  their  official  acts  relating  to  the  disburse- 
ment of  public  funds  will  be  carefully  scrutinized  by  a  sworn  pub- 
lic official.  Eternal  vigilance  is  not  only  the  price  of  liberty,  but 
it  is  an  essential  to  pure  government." 

Other  States  have  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Wyoming  and 
have  provided  for  uniformity  in  local  financial  accounts  and  for 
a  system  of  central  supervision.  Minnesota  has  provided  for  an 
examining  officer,  whose  powers,  however,  are  not  so  comprehens- 
ive as  those  of  the  State  Examiner  of  Wyoming.   From  the  State 


146  THE    IMPORTANCE    OF    UNIFORMITY. 

of  Texas  comes  the  outline  of  a  plan  of  State  supervision  over  the 
indebtedness  of  the  various  localities.  By  a  law  of  1893,  any  city 
desiring-  to  issue  bonds  is  required  to  present  to  the  Attorney-Gen- 
eral a  full  statement  of  the  assessed  valuation  of  its  property  to- 
gether with  such  other  information  as  he  may  require,  and  the  par- 
ticular ordinance  authorizing  the  bond  issue,  before  the  bonds  can 
legally  be  issued.  These  bonds,  after  the  sanction  of  the  Attorney- 
General  has  been  obtained,must  be  registered  with  the  State  Comp- 
troller. The  effect  of  this  law  has  been  to  give  financial  security  and 
to  prevent  local  repudiation,  as  well  as  to  secure  more  careful  con- 
sideration of  municipal  indebtedness. 

The  latest,  and,  in  some  respects,  the  most  interesting  contri- 
bution to  American  experience  in  the  matter  of  uniform- 
ity and  supervision  of  accounts  comes  from  the  State  of  In- 
diana. A  recent  enactment  of  the  Legislature  (March  3,  1899)  pro- 
vides for  the  use,  by  all  the  township  trustees  of  the  State,  of  a 
common  schedule  to  be  prepared  and  enforced  by  the  State  Audi- 
tor. The  county  law  of  the  same  date  practically  secures  the  same 
result  for  the  counties  by  providing  for  a  more  systematic  prepar- 
ation of  their  budgets. 

The  legislation  of  WyomJng  and  Indiana  thus  paves  the  way  for 
provisions  of  the'  model  charter  upon  the  question  of  uniform  ac- 
counting. The  propositions  of  that  charter  which  recommend  uni- 
formity, publicity  and  central  supervision  are,  therefore,  no  longer 
radical  propositions,  but  are  already  yielding  splendid  results  in 
Wyoming  and  promise  equally  beneficial  results  in  Indiana,  where 
local  financial  administration  has,  heretofore,  been  carelessly  con- 
ducted. 

By  a  system  of  uniform  accounting,  together  with  central  su- 
pervision, unity  in  municipal  government  is  preserved  while  the 
free  development  of  the  individual  city  is  encouraged  and  sustain- 
ed. The  clumsy  financial  policy  of  many  of  our  cities  will  give  way 
before  a  more  intelligent  use  of  the  experience  of  other  cities.  The 
management  of  the  cities  of  our  States  can  never  attain  to  that  high 
degree  of  efficiency  which  the  taxpayer  has  a  right  to  expect  until 
more  care  is  bestowed  upon  this  elementary  need  of  better  munici- 
pal bookkeeping.  Such  a  change  means  higher  efficiency    in    mu- 


SAMUEL    E.    SPARLING.  147 

nicipal  government;  it  means  a  higher  order  of  informa- 
tion concerning  municipal  finances,  and  consequently  a  general 
higher  average  of  government  in  the  cities.  Institutional  progress 
is  measured  by  the  fitness  of  our  institutions  for  the  ever  changing 
conditions  of  our  social  and  economic  environment.  The  rapid 
changes  in  our  financial  conditions  demand  constant  revision  of  our 
financial  methods  and  institutions.  The  movement  towards  uni- 
form accounting  and  central  supervision  is,  therefore,  it  may  be 
hoped,  an  initial  step  in  the  financial  reorganization  of  our  munici- 
palities. 


148  MUNICIPAL    RECEIPTS    AND    EXPENDITURES. 


FINANCIAL  CONTROL  OVER  MUNICIPAL 
RECEIPTS  AND  EXPENDITURES. 


Albert  F.  Crosby, 

Ex-Deputy  Auditor,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


The  necessity  of  financial  control  over  municipal  receipts  and  ex- 
penditures has  been  demonstrated  time  and  again  in  every  munici- 
pality of  any  size  in  the  country;  and  the  question  is  not  at  this 
time  whether  such  control  should  exist,  but  how  and  by  what  au- 
thority should  it  be  conferred,  and  in  whom  should  it  be  vested. 

Controlling  power  may  be  conferred  upon  municipal  officials  by 
municipal  authority,  either  executive  or  legislative,  or  may  be  con- 
ferred by  State  law.  The  main  object  in  vesting  such  controlling 
power,  I  take  it,  is  to  place  a  safeguard  around  all  municipal  trans- 
actions, and  to  establish  general  supervision  over  all  city  business, 
with  a  view  to  restricting  such  business  to  its  proper  and  legiti- 
mate channels,  and  to  assuring  an  exact  and  complete  record  of  all 
such  transactions. 

If,  however,  the  power  of  financial  control  be  conferred  by  the 
municipal  administration  or  executive  authority,  there  would  al- 
ways be  the  dangerous  condition  attached  thereto,  that  in  cases  of 
the  execution  of  such  control  contrary  to  the  interest  or  possible 
mandates  of  the  administration,  the  controlling  power  might  be 
taken  away  in  the  same  m.anner,  as  well  as  by  the  same  authority,  as 
that  by  which  it  had  been  conferred.  In  other  words,  the  authority 
of  financial  control,  if  held  at  all,  would  be  limited  by  and  subject 
to  the  administrative  pleasure;  in  which  case  the  entire  procedure 
becomes  a  farce.  The  same  objection  holds  good,  although  not  to 
so  great  an  extent,  in  the  case  of  authority  conferred  by  the  legisla- 
tive branch  of  the  city  government.  What  is  needed  is  an  absolute, 
standard  authority  of  financial  control,  based  upon  a  fixed  quanti- 
ty, and  subjected  to  no  fear  of  supersedence  or  overthrow,  so  long 


ALBERT    F.    CROSBY.  149 


as  such  authority  is  exercised  within  proper  and  legitimate  hmits. 
Such  authority  can  only  be  conferred  by  State  law. 

Now  shall  this  financial  control  be  vested  in  a  board  of  super- 
vision or  in  an  individual  official,  or  controller? 

It  would  seem  that  this  question  is  effectually  answered  when  we 
consider  the  trouble  so  often  found  with  the  work  of  a  board  of 
this  character — that  each  of  the  individual  members  is  naturally 
inclined  to  shift  as  much  of  the  work  as  possible,  and  all  the  re- 
sponsibility, if  possible,  on  to  the  other  members. 

"What  is  everybody's  business  is  nobody's  business."  In  or- 
der to  fix  the  responsibility  in  case  of  neglect  or  failure  properly 
to  carry  forward  the  legitimate  functions  of  a  municipality, 
there  should  and  must  be  an  individual  head — one  on  whom 
may  rest  either  public  approval  or  public  censure,  and  who  must 
consequently  have  the  requisite  authority  to  compel  attention  to 
duty,  and  obedience  to  rules  laid  down  for  the  guidance  of  all  pub- 
lic officers  in  the  transaction  of  city  business. 

This  naturally  points  to  the  vesting  of  financial  control  over 
municipal  receipts  and  disbursements,  and  in  fact,  over  all  finan- 
cial transactions,  in  an  individual  official — or  city  controller,  to 
whom  the  public  may  look  for  careful,  conservative  and  faithful 
supervision  of  public  business. 

The  duties  of  a  city  controller  as  set  forth  in  Section  ii,  Ar- 
ticle V,  of  the  Municipal  Corporations  Act,  are  of  three  separate 
and  distinct  classes — first,  as  an  auditor,  to  examine,  pass  upon  and 
audit  all  bills  or  vouchers  for  expenditures  incurred  by  the  munici- 
pal officials  in  the  performance  of  their  respective  duties,  or  in  the 
caring  for  the  general  municipal  good  and  improvement.  Second, 
as  an  accountant,  to  keep  the  records  and  accounts  of  the  receipts 
and  disbursements,  assets  and  liabilities  of  the  city;  and  third,  as  a 
statistician,  to  exhibit  annually,  or  oftener,  full  and  complete  state- 
ments of  the  municipal  transactions  and  financial  standing. 

In  order  that  he  may  fearlessly  and  without  prejudice  perform 
his  duties  under  the  first  head  (that  of  auditor)  it  would  seem  ab- 
solutely essential  that  the  comptroller  be  relieved  of  any  political 
entanglements,  or  obligations,  such  as  would  almost  of  necessity 
arise  should  the  office  be  one  to  be  filled  by  general  election — and 
from  favor  or  obligations  of  any  kind  to  the  administration  or  exec- 


150  MUNICIPAL    RECEIPTS   AND    EXPENDITURES. 


utive  officials,  upon  whose  expenditures  he  must  pass.  The  office 
must,  therefore,  be  one  to  be  filled  neither  by  election,  nor  by  the 
appointive  power  of  the  mayor,  or  other  executive  officer.  The  ap- 
pointment of  the  controller  by  the  votes  of  the  legislative  branch 
of  the  government,  or  City  Council,  while  open  to  the  criticism 
that  such  bodies  are  too  often  subject  to  "inducement,"  as  to  how 
they  shall  cast  their  ballot,  yet  would  seem  the  most  available 
mean.'^  of  filling  the  office.  I  am,  however,  firmly  of  the  opinion 
that  a  clause  should  be  added  to  this  section,  providing  that  such 
officer,  after  having  received  his  appointment,  shall  be  removed 
only  for  misfeasance  or  malfeasance  in  office,  and  after  due  trial 
has  been  accorded  him,  upon  written  charges,  before  the  body  orig- 
inally appointing  him  to  office — thus  practically  removing  all  possi- 
ble motive  for  seeking  favor  of  voters,  or  legislators,  or  other  of- 
ficials, looking  toward  a  "second  term"  or  continuance  in  office — 
in  a  word,  taking  the  office  out  of  politics. 

The  controller  must  also  be  relieved,  so  far  as  possible,  of  all 
temptation  to  misdirect  the  use  of  public  funds,  either  di- 
rectly or  by  collusion  with  others;  or  in  allowing  such  action  to 
•'pass  muster."  As  a  means  to  this  end,  I  would  suggest  that  all 
city  officers,  whose  duty  it  is  to  collect  money  on  behalf  of  the  city 
be  required  to  deposit  same  with  the  City  Treasurer  daily,  upon  or- 
der or  receiving  warrant  of  the  controller.  Such  receiving  war- 
rant may  specify,  upon  the  back  or  face  thereof  the  source  of 
revenue  so  collected,  and  the  proper  fund  to  which  the  same  is 
to  be  credited,  together  with  such  other  information  as  may  be 
necessary  and  desirable.  Such  warrant  should  be  issued  in  du- 
plicate, the  original  to  go  to  the  treasurer,  and  be  his  authority 
fice  of  the  controller,  as  the  authority  for  entry  of  the  transaction 
of  such  business  on  the  city  records. 

The  collecting  officer,  when  making  application  for  a  receiving 
warrant,  should  file  a  report  with  the  controller  showing  what 
collections  he  has  m.ade,  and  turning  over  to  him  the  numbered 
stubs  of  the  receipts  he  has  given  for  same.  The  controller  will 
thus  have  a  complete  record  of  all  monies  received  in  every  de- 
partment of  the  city,  while  not  touching  a  cent  of  same  himself, 
and  the  treasurer,  handling  all  the  actual  money,  can  receive  and 
disburse  only  on  the  order  of  the  controller. 


ALBERT    F.    CROSBY.  I5I 


A  sworn  statement  should  be  sent  daily  by  the  treasurer  to 
the  controller  showing  all  transactions  of  the  day,  which  state- 
ment must  agree  in  every  particular  with  the  records  of  the  con- 
troller, and  if  the  cash  balances  of  the  city  are  kept  in  banks  or  de- 
positories a  daily  statement  should  also  be  rendered  by  such  de- 
pository to  the  controller, — thus  making  the  record  complete.  In 
case  a  depository  is  used,  absolutely  no  money  should  be  disbursed 
except  by  check  duly  authorized  by  warrant  of  the  controller. 

In  the  matter  of  disbursements  the  controller  should  be  given 
full  and  complete  authority  to  investigate  to  the  fullest  extent  the 
validity  of  any  and  all  claims  presented  for  payment,  and  to  refuse 
to  pass  upon  any  such  claims  until  thoroughly  satisfied  of  the  cor- 
rectness thereof.  He  should  also  be  given  authority  to  direct  the 
method  and  conditions  of  such  payment,  and  to  insist  upon  proper 
restrictions  and  certifications  upon  vouchers  before  same  are  ap- 
proved for  payment.  In  the  same  manner  as  suggested  for  the  re- 
ceiving warrant,  the  voucher  may  have  specified  upon  its  face  or 
back  the  fund  and  purpose  to  which  such  disbursement  is  to  be 
charged. 

Tb.e  matter  of  accounting  then  becomes  simply  a  record  of  re- 
ceiving warrants  and  disbursing  warrants  arranged  and  classified 
according  to  ihe  proper  k\nch  and  municipal  functions;  to  which 
record  the  Ijooks  and  accounts  of  the  various  departments,  as  well 
as  of  the  city  treasurer  and  city  depositaries  must  be  brought  into 
daily  baiance.  It  is,  however,  of  the  greatest  importance  that  the 
controller  be  given  the  utmost  authority  and  control  over  the 
keeping  of  the  records  of  each  and  every  department,  so  that  there 
be  no  financial  transaction  of  any  nature  whatever  without  his 
sanction  and  approval.  The  best  system  of  accounting  ever  de- 
vised is  worthless  unless  enforced  in  every  detail;  at  the  same  time 
there  are  often  found  many  ways  of  evading  the  law,  unless  spe- 
cial attention  is  given  to  prevent  such  action;  so  that  unless  some 
one  official  shall  have  ample  authority  to  order  and  direct  the  ac- 
counting in  all  departments,  and  at  the  same  time  the  ability  to 
properly  dictate  the  method,  and  the  "backbone"  to  enforce  such  di- 
rections and  dictations,  there  is  almost  a  certainty  of  slipping  into  a 
lax  and  careless  manner  of  doing  business,  especially  when,  as  is 
too  often  the  case,  the  clerks  are  appointed  on  account  of  political 


152  MUNICIPAL   RECEIPTS    AND    EXPENDITURES. 

prestige  rather  than  abihty  to  fulfill  the  duties  of  their  respective 
positions. 

It  would  seem  far  better  also  to  have  such  authority  conferred 
by  State  law,  so  that  it  can  not  be  curtailed  or  abridged  by  action 
of  other  municipal  officials,  either  executive  or  legislative,  also  to 
couibine  with  the  investment  of  authority  a  full  and  specific  respon- 
sibility, so  that  any  error  or  failure  in  the  proper  transaction  of 
municipal  ousiness  would  revert  not  only  to  the  minor  officer  or 
clerk  making  such  error,  but  also  to  the  official  who  had  failed  to 
enforce  his  authority  to  the  extent  of  demanding  and  receiving  ex- 
act, careful  and  correct  work. 

This  brings  us  to  the  third,  or  statistical  duty  of  the  comptrol- 
ler. With  records  arranged  as  above  suggested,  the  data  for  a  com- 
plete financial  report  are  always  at  hand  (a  simple  footing  of  col- 
umns giving  total  of  receipts  or  disbursements  for  each  and  every 
purpose)  and  the  m^ain  question  becoming  one  of  proper  analysis 
and  classification. 

The  method  of  formulating  an  annual  financial  report  for  a  mu- 
nicipality is  as  yet  far  from  being  satisfactorily  settled.  It  is  a 
matter  of  growth,  and,  in  fact,  it  is  only  in  the  last  few  years  that 
the  subject  has  been  a  topic  for  any  general  study  or  discussion. 
The  great  object  foi  present  settlement  is  an  analysis  or  method 
of  tabulating  receipts  and  disbursements  which  will  satisfy  the  de- 
mands of  statisticians,  and  at  the  same  time  be  so  simple  and  prac- 
tical as  to  appeal  to  municipal  officials  for  immediate  adoption, 
without  entailing  too  great  a  change  in  their  present  methods. 

Speaking  from  a  practical  standpoint,  I  believe  I  can  say  that  no 
better  classification  of  municipal  functions  has  been  presented  than 
that  suggested  by  Prof.  L.  S.  Rowe  in  a  paper  recently  published 
in  the  "Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science,"  November,  1898,  entitled  "Classification  of  Municipal 
Receipts  and  Expenditures." 

Such  classification  is  eminently  adapted  to  all  municipal  trans- 
actions, and  I  have  found  in  several  years'  use  of  a  very  similar  tab- 
ulation in  the  Records  and  Financial  Reports  of  the  City  of  Cleve- 
land that  it  meets  all  statistical  demands,  and  is  not  so  complicated 
but  that  it  is  easily  grasped  by  the  layman  and  general  public.  Fur- 
ther, such  a  system  is  not  difficult  to  arrange  and  classify,  both  in 


ALBERT    F.    CROSBY.  153 


the  records  and  annual  report,  falling  in  harmoniously  and  natur- 
ally with  a  common-sense  analysis  of  municipal  transactions. 
The  laws  and  regulations  of  each  municipality  may  demand  some 
additions  to  same  in  the  way  of  detail,  but  as  a  foundation  on  which 
to  rest  the  base  of  a  municipal  annual  report  I  have  found  Dr. 
Rowe's  classification  satisfactory  in  every  respect. 

There  is  a  senseless  and  exceedingly  harmful  habit  into  which 
the  officials  of  many  of  our  larger  municipalities  have  lapsed — that 
of  withholding  their  annual  financial  report  for  six  months  or 
a  year  after  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  for  which  such  re- 
port is  made.  •  After  the  lapse  of  so  much  time  many  of  the  sta- 
tistics have  largely  lost  tlieir  value  as  matters  of  immediate  interest, 
and  "public  control,"  which,  after  all,  is  the  final  and  best  authority, 
is  lost  sight  of,  through  lack  of  interest  and  attention.  Thus  the 
main  objeot  of  the  compilation  of  an  annual  statement  is  frustrattd 
by  neglect  on  the  part  of  careless  officials.  It  is  perfectly 
possible,  using  the  methods  of  accounting  suggested  above, 
and  formulating  the  annual  statement  along  the  lines  of  Dr. 
Rowe's  schedule,  to  complete  such  a  report  in  from  thirty  to 
sixty  days,  including  all  details,  and  the  main  facts  and  figures, 
showing  all  the  material  required  for  general  information  should 
be  ready  for  publication  within  twenty-four  hours  after  closing  the 
books  for  the  fiscal  year. 

Now  a  word  as  to  the  man.  In  order  to  perfect  the  execution  of 
the  plans  and  methods  set  forth  in  the  Municipal  Corporations  Act, 
it  is  absolutely  essential  that  a  man  be  chosen  as  controller,  who 
is  not  only  of  sterling  integrity  and  exceptional  executive  ability, 
but  who  is  willing  to  devote  his  life  to  the  broadening  and  perfect- 
ing of  the  financial  branch  of  municipal  government.  He  must  be 
a  man  of  not  too  advanced  age,  or  he  will  lack  the  vigor  and  energy 
necessary  to  the  taking  a  firm  stand  on  questions  of  importance, 
and  maintaining  same  against  all  opposition;  at  the  same  time  he 
must  have  acquired  the  ability  and  conservatism  of  matured  exper- 
ience. He  must  be  an  accountant  of  unquestioned  ability  (an  ex- 
pert, if  possible)  broad  enough  to  receive  and  examine  any  prop.)- 
sition  tending  toward  the  advancing  and  improving  of  the  functions 
of  his  office — able  to  teach — willing  to  learn. 


154  MUNICIPAL    RECEIPTS    AND    EXPENDITURES. 

The  duties  of  the  controller's  office  are  not  learned  in  a  day 
or  a  month.  Two  years'  work  will  not  much  more  than  familiarize 
a  man  with  the  foundation  principles.  The  men  who  serve  in  his 
office  are  not  always  of  the  best.  The  controller  must  make  com- 
petent clerks  out  of  carpenters,  shoemakers,  or  (more  difficult  still) 
politicians;  must  be  able  to  show  all  his  clerks  how  to  perform  their 
work,  or  in  case  of  urgency,  do  it.  foi  them;  must  know  how,  when 
and  what  each  clerk  is  doing,  and  how  to  correct  same  if  necessary. 
From  one  to  two  years'  preparation  is  not  more  than  enough  to 
fit  the  most  competent  to  fill  the  position  of  controller  in  a  large 
city,  and  every  additional  year  will  increase  greatly  his  ability, 
knowledge  and  experience. 

The  only  change  1  would  suggest  in  the  Municipal  Corpora- 
tions Act,  other  than  to  further  specify  the  authority  and  responsi- 
bility of  the  controller,  is  to  make  the  tenure  of  his  office  to  con- 
tinue during  his  life  and  good  behavior.  I  am  fully  convinced 
that  a  system  of  municipal  government  laid  out  along  the  lines  of 
the  Municipal  Corporations  Act,  especially  in  the  department  of 
finance,  will  be  a  vast  improvement  over  any  now  in  existence. 
The  plan  in  general  tends  towards  the  development  and  broaden- 
ing of  government,  and  the  betterment  of  municipal  offices  and 
officials. 


THE    ACCOUNTING    OF    PUBLIC    SERVICE    INDUSTRIES.  I55 


THE  ACCOUNTING  OF  PUBLIC  SERVICE 
INDUSTRIES. 


Charles  W.  Tooke, 

Professor  of  Public  Law  in  the  University  of  Illinois. 


The  question  of  securing  a  successful  financial  administration 
for  our  American  municipalities  has  become  of  increasing  im- 
portance within  the  last  few  years,  due  in  no  small  part  to  the  tre- 
mendous development  of  municipal  functions  and  to  the  corre- 
sponding growth  of  public  ownership  of  municipal  industrial  en- 
terprises. In  view  of  these  movements  and  of  the  complexity  of 
American  municipal  organization,  the  problem  before  the  commit- 
tee has  been  a  difficult  one  and  its  suggestions  toward  a  solution 
(i)  should  be  carefully  and  seriously  considered.  The  recom- 
mendations of  the  committee  on  this  matter  have  as  a  whole  the 
merit  of  being  conservative,  and  so  far  as  they  go  they  are  well 
adapted  to  meet  the  existing  conditions,  both  constitutional  and 
statutory,  of  our  American  municipal  organization.  In  discussing 
in  detail  the  present  methods  of  securing  the  proper  administration 
of  the  city's  purse  in  connection  with  these  recommendations,  we 
may,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  consider  separately  the  consti- 
tutional provisions  to  be  adopted,  the  legislative  control  to  be 
exercised  by  the  State,  and  the  plan  and  policy  of  the  local  ad- 
ministration. 

IT.     Plan  and  Policy  of  Local  Administr.a.tion. 

The  recommendations  of  the  committee  which  look  to  the  in- 
creased efficiency  of  the  local  administration  must  command  our 
unqualified  approval.  Systematic  and  uniform  bookkeeping,  the 
publicity  of  accounts,  the  independent  tenure  of  the  controller, 
are  all  steps  in  the  right  direction  and  will  go  far  toward  fixing 
responsibility  and  toward  giving  to  the  public  that  accurate  and 


156  THE    ACCOUNTING    OF    PUBLIC    SERVICE    INDUSTRIES. 

impartial  knowledg-e  of  the  city's  finances  which  will  render  the 
control  of  the  citizens  over  the  administration  at  once  intelligent 
and  salutary. 

The  financial  policy  to  be  followed  in  carrying  on  the  works  in 
question  has  to  my  mind  a  forceful  bearing  on  the  formulation  of 
the  system  of  accounting  that  is  to  be  adopted.  The  prime  pur- 
pose of  municipal  bookkeeping  is  to  secure  successful  financial 
administration ;  but  we  must  recognize  as  essential  to  this  end  that 
the  system  of  accounting  should  be  designed  to  give  to  the  public 
thoroughly  reliable  and  intelligible  information  of  the  financial 
standing  of  the  enterprise  from  a  strictly  business  point  of  view. 
The  only  way  in  which  this  result  can  be  obtained  is  to  treat  the 
public  service  industry  strictly  as  a  private  industry  for  all  pur- 
poses of  municipal  bookkeeping.  Every  element  of  expenditure 
both  under  the  revenue  account  and  under  the  capital  account  that 
a  private  company  must  take  into  consideration  should  be  includ- 
ed in  making  up  the  statements  of  the  cost  of  service.  Not  only 
should  the  interest  on  the  entire  investment,  the  insurance  against 
loss  by  accidents  and  against  the  impairment  of  the  investment  be 
taken  into  account,  but  the  industry  should  either  be  subjected  to 
State  and  local  taxes,  or  the  amount  of  these  taxes  relinquished 
should  be  taken  into  consideration  in  ascertaining  the  annual  ex- 
penditure. 

Another  obvious  consequence  of  this  method  of  treatment  is 
that  a  separate  account  should  be  kept  for  each  public  service  in- 
dustry operated  by  a  municipality.  The  expenditures  for  ma- 
terials and  for  salaries  and  wages  of  employes  should  be  truly  and 
accurately  charged  to  that  department  for  which  they  are  incurred. 
No  department  should  enjoy  free  service  at  the  expense  of  another, 
but  all  services  rendered  should  be  credited  at  the  price?  deter- 
mined upon  to  the  department  supplying  the  same.  These  sug- 
gestions are  among  the  simplest  principles  of  correct  bookkeeping 
and  their  adoption  would  avoid  the  concealment  of  the  true  finan- 
cial condition  of  the  enterprise — an  evil  in  American  methods 
which  in  some  instances  has  been  notorious  (i). 

^  See  the  brochure  of  I,.  S.  Rowe,  "The  Municipality  and  the  Gas 
Supply,"  published  by  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social 
Science. 


CHARLES    W.    TOOKE.  157 


To  some,  these  suggestions  may  seem  to  be  radical,  but  I  would 
call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  they  are  generally  observed  in 
all  the  English  municipalities  and  in  many  of  those  on  the  Con- 
tinent. Tf  wc  open,  for  example,  the  annual  report  of  the  treasurer 
of  the  county  borou.gh  of  Bolton,  a  town  of  some  120,000  inhabi- 
tants, which  owns  and  operates  among  other  industries  its  water- 
works, gas  plant,  electric  lighting  plant  and  tramways,  we  find  that 
the  revenue  account  in  each  case  includes  the  borough  and  poor 
rates,  the  property  tax  and  the  income  tax  on  profits;  and  that  a 
separate  account  is  kept  for  each  industry  operated  by  the  muni- 
cipality, the  report  of  which  shows  at  a  glance  the  exact  financial 
state  of  the  enterprise  in  question  (i).  As  to  the  efftciency  of  the 
administration  of  these  industries,  i^  may  be  well  to  note  in  pass- 
ing that  for  the  last  eight  years  the  average  profit  of  the  Water 
Department  has  been  over  £11,000,  and  that  of  the  Gas  Depart- 
ment no  less  than  £18,500  (2). 

Such  a  system  of  bookkeeping  has  the  further  advantage,  which 
I  deem  of  paramount  importance,  of  furnishing  a  reliable  basis  of 
comparison  between  the  operation  of  such  industries  under  public 
and  under  private  ownership.  I  desire  to  emphasize  this  point 
because  I  believe  that  upon  the  proper  solution  of  this  question 
will  depend  the  success  or  failure  of  municipal  ownership  in  this 
country  in  the  next  twenty-five  years.  Advocates  of  public  owner- 
ship on  the  one  hand  and  supporters  of  private  ownership  on  the 
other  are  coming  to  agree  that  the  interest  of  the  people  of  our 
municipalities  is  the  sole  criterion  by  which  the  franchise  question 
should  be  settled.  The  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  relative  effi- 
ciency of  the  two  systems  is  largely  due  to  a  difference  of  judg- 
ment as  to  the  force  of  the  evidence  presented,  and  both  parties 
freely  admit  that  the  evidence  available  to-day  is  inadequate  to  any 
scientific  determination  of  the  question  upon  its  merit  (3). 

^  "  Abstract  of  Treasurer's  Accounts  for  Year  1897-8."    See  appendix  II. 

2  "  Municipal  Year  Book  of  the  United  Kingdom,   1798,"  pages  38-39. 

^  See  the  testimony  of  M.  N.  Baker  in  his  article  on  "  Water- works  "  in 
"Municipal  Monopolies,"  page  50;  and  that  of  Allen  Ripley  Foote  in 
"  Municipal  Public  Service  Industries,  page  214.  The  investigation  now 
being  conducted  by  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Labor  will  doubtless  throw 
much  light  on  this  question. 


158  THE   ACCOUNTING    OF    PUBLIC    SERVICE    INDUSTRIES. 

The  practical  statement  involved  in  this  contention  is  that  all 
companies  operating  under  municipal  franchises  should  be  com- 
pelled to  keep  similar  accounts  and  to  make  annual  reports  to  the 
State  authorities.  There  is  no  valid  reason  why  the  same  State  au- 
thorities should  not  exercise  a  control  in  this  respect  over  all  pub- 
lic service  industries,  whether  operated  under  private  or  under  pub- 
lic ownership.  That  private  companies  should  seek  to  conceal 
from  the  public  the  true  state  of  their  business  is  natural,  but  the 
time  has  come  when  for  the  public  service  industries  under  discus- 
sion such  concealment  should  no  longer  be  regarded  as  permis- 
sible. The  interests  of  the  people  are  so  directly  concerned  that 
publicity  of  accounts,  systematically  and  correctly  set  forth,  must 
in  the  near  future  be  required  of  all  companies  operating  under 
municipal  franchises.  The  interests  of  the  stockholders  of  the  pri- 
vate corporations  demand  a  like  control  to  prevent  undue  inter- 
ference by  the  local  authorities  and  to  enable  the  companies  to  op- 
erate their  plants  to  the  best  advantage  (i). 

III.     The  Central  Control  by  the  State  Authorities. 

The  important  question  of  method  in  this  connection  is  to  deter- 
mine to  what  extent  the  constitutional  amendment  and  municipal 
corporations  act  should  go  in  prescribing  the  details  of  municipal 
bookkeeping.  Personally,  I  believe  that  as  few  S4.ich  details  as 
possible  should  be  stated  either  in  the  constitutiory  or  in  the  gen- 
eral statute  of  incorporation.  And  this  leads  us  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  existing  method  of  legislative  control  which  the  report 
recognizes  as  the  principal  means  of  enforcing  the  recommenda- 
tions suggested.  If  we  are  to  continue  the  existing  system,  we 
must  in  all  probability  rely  on  the  State  Legislature  to  enforce 
these  recommendations,  but  I  believe  that  the  movement  in  this 
country  is  directly  toward  the  substitution  of  a  central  administra- 
tive control  in  place  of  the  control  by  the  Legislature.  The  report 
of  the  committee  admits  the  general  failure  of  legislative  control 
and  invests  the  State  Comptroller  with  certain  defined  powers  of 
and  invests  the  State  Controller  or  other  State  fiscal  olftcer  with 
certain  defined  powers  of  examination  and  audit  over  municipal 

^  "Review  of  Danville  Water  Case  "  in  Municipal  Engineering,"  Sep- 
tember, 1S99  ;  also  "  Municipal  Monopolies,"  page  60,  by  E.  W.  Bemis. 


CHARLES    W.    TOOKE.  1  59 


accounts.  Are  these  powers  adequate  and  is  the  Controller's  of- 
fice the  best  means  of  securing  their  enforcement?  Without  ques- 
tion, the  State  Controller  can  carry  out  successfully  the  powers 
designated  in  the  report,  but  if  these  powers  are  to  be  extended 
to  cover  the  administration  of  privately  owned  industries 
and  to  include  a  larger  control  over  municipal  finances,  I  believe 
that  an  independent  board,  with  an  organization  similar  to  that  of 
the  Local  Government  Board  in  England  should  be  established. 

In  the  English  system,  annual  reports  are  made  to  a  government 
department  of  the  Board  of  Trade  with  regard  to  electric  lighting, 
gas  and  tramways.  While  the  larger  towns  employ  independent 
auditors  to  check  their  accounts,  the  books  of  the  smaller  towns, 
that  is,  of  the  district  Councils,  are  examined  by  auditors  appoint- 
ed by  the  Local  Government  Board.  The  central  control  over 
private  gas  companies,  for  example,  is  similar  to  that  exercised  by 
the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Gas  and  Electric  Light  Commission- 
ers, and  serves  to  restrict  over-capitalization  and  to  compel  the 
companies  to  sell  additional  stock  issued  under  authority  at  auc- 
tion. The  annual  profits  of  such  companies  are  limited  by  Act  of 
Parliament  to  a  certain  per  cent,  of  the  capital  invested,  and  they 
are  required  to  furnish  gas  of  a  fixed  standard  to  all  consumers  at 
a  reasonable  price. 

If  we  are  to  adopt  a  similar  system  of  control  over  private  com- 
panies and  to  enforce  uniform  accounts  for  all  municipal  service 
industries,  we  must  look  to  the  establishment  of  a  similar  adminis- 
trative board;  and  only  thus,  in  my  opinion,  can  the  control  by 
public  authorities  over  the  charges  for  services  rendered,  a  power 
that  already  exists  in  several  of  our  States,  be  exercised  with  jus- 
tice alike  to  the  private  corporation  and  to  the  public.  Such  board, 
invested  with  ample  powers,  could  work  out  the  details  of  the  sys- 
tem of  accounting  to  be  prescribed  and  could  adjust  its  provisions 
to  the  experience  gained  in  its  administration.  Either  we  nnist 
leave  to  the  Legislature  the  duty  of  providing  by  statute  the  man- 
ner of  accounting,  with  a  resulting  complexity  and  inelasticity  of 
method,  or  conmiit  this  duty  to  the  administrative  body  which  is 
to  exercise  such  control.  The  latter  alternative  is  in  every  way 
preferable  and  commends  itself  to  our  judgment  as  the  best  adapted 
to  secure  simplicity  of  system  and  efficiency  of  administration. 


l60  THE    ACCOUNTING    OF    PUBLIC    SERVICE    INDUSTRIES. 


IV.     The  Constitutional  Provisions. 

The  pertinence  of  the  suggestion  of  the  estabhshment  of  a  State 
Municipal  Board  may  be  better  reahzed  when  we  come  to  the  ques- 
tion of  the  constitutional  control.  The  committee  has  found  it  ex- 
pedient, in  view  of  existing  conditions  and  of  the  inelasticity  of  the 
percentage  limitation,  to  exempt  certain  classes  of  indebtedness 
from  its  operation.  Among  bonds  not  to  be  included  in  calculating 
the  limit  of  city  indebtedness,  are:  (a)  "Bonds  authorized  by  the 
affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  Council,  approved  by  the 
Mayor  and  approved  by  the  affirmative  vote  of  the  majority  of  the 
qualified  voters  of  the  city  voting  upon  the  question  of  their  issu- 
ance at  the  next  ensuing  city  election,  for  the  supply  of  water  or  for 
other  specific  undertaking  from  which  the  city  will  derive  a  reve- 
nue." Realizing  the  inadequacy  of  this  provision,  the  committee 
has  added:  (b)  "But  from  and  after  a  period  to  be  determined  by 
the  Council,  not  exceeding  five  years  from  the  date  of  such  elec- 
tion, whenever  and  so  long  as  such  undertaking  fails  to  produce 
sufficient  revenue  to  pay  all  costs  of  operation  or  administration 
(including  the  interest  on  the  city's  bonds  issued  therefor  and  the 
cost  of  the  insurance  against  losses  by  fire,  accidents  and  injuries 
to  persons)  and  an  annual  contribution  to  a  sinking  fund  which 
will  pay  on  or  before  maturity  all  bonds  issued  on  account  of  said 
undertaking,  all  such  bonds  outstanding  shall  be  included  in  de- 
termining the  limitation  of  the  city's  indebtedness." 

While  I  have  already  indicated  my  approval  of  including  the 
items  designated  in  making  up  the  cost  of  operation,  this  provision 
in  my  estimation  is  open  to  the  objection  that  it  will  tend  to  nul- 
lify the  force  of  the  percentage  limitation  just  where  the  condi- 
tions require  a  salutary  check  upon  municipal  extravagance.  If 
the  Council  adopt  the  maximum  period  of  five  years,  a  large  city 
may  at  the  end  of  that  time  find  several  millions  of  dollars  arbi- 
trarily added  to  the  amount  included  within  the  percentage  limi- 
tation ;  and  the  result  may  be  that  all  its  borrowing  power  will  be 
suddenly  destroyed  without  any  possibilty  of  a  remedy — a  con- 
tingency that  would  greatly  aggravate  the  evils  ascribed  to  this 
method  of  constitutional  control. 


CHARLES    W.    TOOKE.  l6l 


My  time  forbids  a  discussion  in  this  connection  of  the  operation 
of  the  percentage  limitation;  a  question  which  I  treated  at  some 
leng-th  in  a  paper  read  before  the  last  meeting  of  the  League  of 
American  Municipalities.^  In  that  paper  the  recommenda- 
tion is  made  that  "all  bonds  issued  for  a  supply  of  water  or  for 
other  specific  undertaking  from  which  a  revenue  is  to  be  derived 
shall  be  secured  by  mortgage  on  the  franchises,  property  and  in- 
come of  the  undertaking  for  which  they  are  issued,  and  shall  not 
in  any  event  become  a  general  claim  or  lien  against  the  munici- 
pality issuing  the  same."  This  provision  warrants  the  exclusion 
of  such  bonds  from  the  operation  of  the  percentage  limitation 
without  the  danger  of  their  becoming  a  charge  upon  the  city. 
This  clause  I  would  substitute  for  that  which  contemplates  a  pos- 
sible inclusion  of  such  bonds  within  the  limit  (Clause  B),  retain- 
ing both  the  first  and  third  clauses  of  the  section  (Clauses  A  and 
C),  as  recommended  by  the  committee. 

I  fully  realize  how  radically  this  proposition  differs  from  that 
of  the  committee  and  that  it  contemplates  placing  the  public  ser- 
vice industries  owned  and  operated  by  a  municipality  upon  the 
same  basis  as  those  owned  and  operated  by  private  companies; 
and  that  a  logical  consequence  of  its  adoption  would  be  to  make 
such  industries  subject  to  foreclosure,  receivership  and  sale  in  a 
manner  similar  to  those  of  private  corporations.     I  do  not  be- 
lieve, however,  that  such  a  consequence  is  to  be  feared,  if  such  en- 
terprises are  subjected  to  a  properly  organized  administrative  con- 
trol.    Nor  do  I   think  that  its  adoption  would  be  inimical  to 
municipal  ownership.     If  an  industry  under  municipal  ownership, 
with  the  advantages  of  an  indeterminate  franchise  and  of  a  monop- 
oly of  production,  cannot  be  successfully  conducted  under  these 
hmitations,  it  is  not  for  the  interest  of  the  people  that  it  be  so  op- 
erated.    I  believe  that  public  service  industries  may  be  thus  op- 
erated under  municipal  ownership  with  success,  and  that  in  cen- 
tral administrative  control  our  municipalities  are  to  find  that  de- 
gree of  independent  action,  free  from  the  trammels  of  legislative 
caprice,  which  will  enable  them  to  solve  this  problem  in  the  only 
correct  way;  namely:  In  the  interest  of  the  people  of  our  cities. 


l62  ACCOUNTS   OF    GRANTEES. 


ACCOUNTS  OF  GRANTEES  OF  MUNICIPAL 
FRANCHISES. 


Walter  S.  Allen,  New  Bedford,  Mass. 


A  prime  essential  of  public  control  of  franchise  companies  is  an 
accurate  system  of  bookkeeping  which  shall  show  every  detail  in 
such  a  way  as  to  enable  a  true  value  to  be  placed  at  any  time  upon 
the  business.  In  order  to  secure  this,  a  system  of  bookkeeping 
must  be  arranged  and  its  wse  enforced  by  some  public  authority, 
and  in  order  to  secure  uniform  methods  this  should  be  done  by 
State  authority  rather  than  by  municipal. 

The  statutes  governing  the  incorporation  of  such  companies 
should  provide  for  the  supervision  by  the  State  of  their  accounts, 
and  a  comprehensive  system  should  be  arranged  by  the  State  au- 
thorities, on  such  broad  lines  that  franchise  companies  of  all  sizes 
could  find  in  it  identical  means  of  expressing  their  operations.  This 
is  by  no  means  simple.  For  many  years  such  uniform  methods 
have  been  established  in  Massachusetts  for  railroads,  street  rail- 
ways, gas  and  electric  light  companies,  and  these  franchise  com- 
panies have  gradually  approached  •uniformity  of  statement. 

Even  if  it  were  practicable  to  incorporate  in  a  municipal  charter 
all  of  the  detail  which  such  a  system  requires  it  would  be  of  doubt- 
ful expediency.  A  city  charter  may,  however,  require  certain  defin- 
ite statements  to  be  filed  at  regular  intervals  with  the  city's  finan- 
cial officer,  the  controller  or  the  auditor,  and  these  statements 
should  be  in  such  detail  as  to  enable  any  one  to  ascertain  whether 
a  true  statement  was  made  of  the  company's  business.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  these  statements  be  elaborate,  and  they  must  vary  in 
detail  according  to  the  nature  of  the  business,  i.  e.,  it  is  not  possi- 
ble to  require  from  a  street  railway  the  same  items  that  must  be 
asked  for  from  a  gas  company,  and  other  facts  yet  mi-ust  be  obtain- 
ed from  a  water  company.  Certain  data  will  be  coaimon  to  all 
-companies.    These  are:    The  number  and  par  value  of  shares;  the 


WALTER    S.    ALLEN.  1 63 


amount  of  cash  paid  in ;  the  amount  and  character  of  indebtedness ; 
the  dividends  declared;  the  amount  of  receipts  from  the  city,  and 
the  amount  received  from  other  users.  Under  the  head  of  receipts 
there  must  also  be  given,  in  order  to  obtain  clear  conceptions  of  the 
returns  of  the  business,  statements  showing  different  details  for 
each  class  of  companies.  For  instance,  street  railway  companies 
must  show  the  number  of  passengers  carried  and  the  number  of  car 
miles  run;  water  companies  must  show  in  detail  the  amount  of  wa- 
ter supplied  by  meter,  the  amount  supplied  to  consumers  using 
water  and  paying  a  fixed  annual  sum,  and  so  on,  the  return  cover- 
ing those  essentials  which  would  enable  an  expert  to  draw  proper 
conclusions  from  the  data  given.  Under  the  head  of  expenditures 
it  is  extremely  difficult  to  lay  down  general  requirements.  If  a  true 
statement  is  to  be  obtained  of  the  condition  of  the  company  the 
cost  of  operation  must  necessarily  be  sub-divided  in  different  ways 
in  different  franchise  companies.  The  material  used,  the  labor,  the 
repairs,  the  cost  of  administration,  the  taxes  must  all  be  given  in 
detail,  and  in  this  connection  certain  manufacturing  or  operating 
facts  must  be  stated  in  such  detail  as  will  enable  an  expert  to  de- 
termine whether  the  charges  made  are  proper,  or  whether  exces- 
sive amounts  have  been  allowed  for  repairs  of  track  of  street  rail- 
ways, or  of  works  of  gas  companies,  or  of  mains  of  water  compan- 
ies, or  wires  and  poles  of  electric  companies.  Such  statements 
must  show — for  instance,  in  the  case  of  street  railways — the  length 
lof  track,  the  number  of  cars  in  use,  the  character  of  the  repairs 
made  on  paving,  etc. — for  electric  light  companies  the  number  of 
poles  replaced,  the  nature  of  repairs  to  wires,  and  the  total  length 
of  the  wire  system. 

Then  ce train  charges  which  should  be  allowed  to  a  company — 
wear  and  tear,  or  depreciation — must  be  stated,  and  if  the  fran- 
chises are  of  limited  duration  the  charge  of  amortization  must  also 
be  made.  This  is  a  legitimate  charge  against  the  earnings  of  any 
company,  which  by  the  terms  of  its  organization  sees  an  end  to  its 
rights  at  some  definite  and  not  far  off  period.  This  subject  of 
amortization  is  so  important  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  it 
at  some  length  in  connection  with  the  proposed  municipal  act. 

Provision  has  been  made  in  the  draft  for  two  forms  of  grants  to 
franchise  companies:     One  where  at  the  end  of  a  certain  term  of 


164  ACCOUNTS  OF  GRANTEES. 

years,  which  is  fixed  at  twenty-one,  the  entire  property  of  the  com- 
pany becomes  the  property  of  the  city  without  further  payment. 
The  other  provides  for  a  purchase  on  a  valuation  of  the  property  of 
the  company.  In  Europe  these  forms  are  in  use,  and  the  details 
have  been  worked  out  in  many  different  ways.  In  the  event  of  the 
property  of  a  company  becoming-  the  property  of  the  municipal- 
ity without  payment,  provision  is  always  made  for  the  allowance 
of  a  charge  against  income  each  year,  sufficient  when  invested  and 
compounded  to  pay  ofif  at  the  expiration  of  the  franchise  the  en- 
tire capital  originally  invested.  In  the  other  case  provision  is  made 
for  the  basis  upon  which  the  valuation  is  to  be  made,  and  if  based 
simply  upon  the  actual  replaceable  value  of  the  property  of  the 
company  at  the  expiration  of  the  franchise,  this  amortization  charge 
must  be  sufficiently  large  to  pay  off  the  difference  in  value  between 
the  probable  receipts  from  the  city  for  the  property  and  its  actual 
cost. 

Closely  connected  with  this  question  is  the  treatment  of  capital 
employed  during  the  closing  years  of  the  life  of  the  franchise  in 
making  extensions.  In  one  of  the  latest  contracts — that  between 
the  Berlin  Street  Railway  Company  and  the  city  of  Berlin — provis- 
ion is  made  that  for  all  extensions  ordered  within  five  years  of  the 
expiration  of  the  contract  the  city  shall  pay  the  full  cost  of  con- 
struction ;  for  those  ordered  within  the  period  between  ten  and  five 
years  before  its  expiration  the  city  shall  pay  one-half  of  the  cost  of 
construction;  and  for  those  ordered  between  ten  and  fifteen  years 
before  the  expiration  of  the  franchise  the  city  shall  pay  one-third 
of  the  cost  of  construction.  This  insures  the  building  of  proper  ex- 
tensions, and  is  only  fair  towards  the  company,  inasmuch  as  its 
property  becomes  the  property  of  the  city  without  further  payment 
at  the  expiration  of  the  franchise,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  re- 
turn to  investors  the  money  put  in  within  the  short  term  of  the  fran- 
chise by  setting  aside  sums  from  earnings  for  the  amortization  of 
this  capital,  without  placing  undue  burdens  in  the  way  of  high 
charges  for  service  upon  the  users. 

Another  form  of  contract — that  between  the  city  of  Berlin  and 
the  Edison  Electric  Light  Company — provides  for  a  franchise  of 
thirty  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  company  shall  sell  its 
property  to  the  city  at  its  actual  value,  but  if  the  city  takes  it  at  any 


WALTER    S.    ALLEN.  1 65 


period  before  the  expiration  of  thirty  years  there  shall  be  an  addi- 
tion of  three  and  one-third  per  cent,  to  the  act'iial  value  for  each 
year  unexpired,  and  if  the  city  does  not  use  its  option  until  after 
the  expiration  of  thirty  years  there  shall  be  deducted  three  and  one- 
third  per  cent,  from  the  value  of  the  plant  for  each  year  in  excess 
of  thirty,  so  that  at  the  end  of  sixty  years  the  entire  plant  becomes 
the  property  of  the  city  free  of  cost. 

The  duration  of  a  franchise  becomes  thus  a  matter  of  great  in- 
terest to  the  users  of  the  service  of  a  franchise  corporation,  for 
assuming  that  the  community  proposes  to  allow  the  original  in- 
vestors to  secure  a  return  of  the  money  originally  invested  as  capi- 
tal, it  will  depend  very  largely  upon  the  life  of  the  franchise.  If  a  fran- 
chise is  for  sixty  years,  as  with  the  Electric  Light  Company  in  -Ber- 
lin, the  charge  for  amortization  annually  is  not  a  heavy  burden,  but 
if  this  life  is  only  twenty-one  years  the  charge  for  this  purpose  is 
equivalent  to  the  payment  of  an  additional  dividend  at  about  the 
ordinary  rate  of  interest  on  investments. 

If  the  city  has  acquired  in  either  of  the  ways  provided  in  the 
recommendations  of  the  committee  the  property  of  a  company 
which  has  enjoyed  a  franchise  in  the  public  streets,  it  is  essential 
that  the  books  of  account  should  be  kept  in  exactly  the  same  man- 
ner as  is  prescribed  for  a  private  company,  and  this  charge  for 
amortization,  or  an  allowance  for  a  sinking  fund  to  extinguish  the 
bonded  debt,  must  be  treated  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  it  is  by  a 
private  company.  Short-term  franchises  and  short-term  bonds  fix, 
of  course,  a  heavy  tax  upon  the  present  users  of  the  service,  and  it 
becomes  then  a  question  merely  of  right  or  wrong  as  to  whether 
the  present  users  shall  be  obliged  to  pay  high  prices  tor  service  in 
order  to  secure  to  a  future  generation  low  prices,  a  question  with 
which  this  paper  is  not  concerned.  It  is  only  desired  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  important  items  of  charges  which  must  be  met  before 
those  who  have  invested  money  in  such  enterprises  can  expect  to 
receive  a  return  in  the  way  of  dividends. 

One  of  the  features  which  the  financial  statement  of  the  company 
should  show  would  be  the  exact  cost  of  construction,  including  in 
that  the  cost  of  equipment,  and  with  a  new  company  this  will  be 
comparatively  simple.  Unfortunately,  in  most  cities  we  shall  have 
to  deal  with  these  companies  as  already  in  existence,  and  it  will 


1 66  ACCOUNTS    OF   GRANTEES. 

in  many  cases  be  almost  impossible  to  obtain — indeed,  the  mana- 
gers of  any  of  the  older  companies  cannot  obtain  the  true  cost  of 
construction;  i.  e.,  the  actual  amount  of  money  invested  over  and 
above  what  should  have  been  charged  off  for  depreciation.  In  such 
cases  it  will  probably  be  necessary  to  make  provision  for  a  valua- 
tion at  the  time  of  extending  old  privileges  or  of  granting  new 
rights  to  existing  companies. 

The  whole  object  of  accurate  methods  of  bookkeeping  and  of 
public  supervision  and  control  of  the  accounts  of  franchise  com- 
panies is  to  secure  an  equitable  division  of  profits  among  the  three 
parties  in  interest;  i.  e.,  the  users  of  the  service,  the  investors  of 
the  capital  employed,  and  the  community  at  large.  So  far  as  the 
first  and  third  classes  are  concerned  with  the  question,  they  look 
only  at  the  payment  to  the  second  class,  and  the  rate  of  dividend  be- 
comes therefore  the  important  factor  in  the  discussion.  The  rec- 
ommendations of  the  committee  provide  in  any  event  for  a  payment 
of  a  percentage  of  the  gross  earnings  to  the  municipality.  This 
special  tax,  of  course  only  upon  the  users  of  the  service  is  an  in- 
crease in  the  cost.  By  this  tax  the  community  at  large  secures  a 
revenue  not  from  the  company  but  from  the  users  of  the  service. 
Rut  this  charge  is  made  ahead  of  the  net  income  applicable  to  div- 
idends, and  does  not  concern  that  except  indirectly. 

If  the  dividends  paid  by  franchise  companies  are  in  excess  of  the 
average  rates  of  mterest  the  public  demands  this  excess,  either  in 
the  form  of  a  payment  to  the  city  directly  in  cash  for  the  benefit 
of  the  conmiunity  or  in  a  reduced  charge  for  service.  The  method 
in  which  this  is  secured  is,  of  course,  to  be  fixed  by  the  specific 
terms  of  the  franchise  grant,  but  some  provision  should  be  made 
by  which  those  who  have  invested  their  money  in  public  service 
companies  may  receive  some  return  for  the  ability  and  enterprise 
which  they  have  put  into  the  work.  The  English  plan  of  treat- 
ing gas  companies  seems  to  cover  this  point  reasonably  well,  i.  e., 
in  the  charters  granted  by  Parliament  there  is  fixed  a  standard  rate 
of  dividend  and  a  standard  price  for  service.  As  the  charge  for 
service  diminishes  the  standard  rate  of  dividend  is  allowed  to  in- 
crease, tlws  sharing  between  the  consumers  and  the  investors  the 
benefit  of  improved  methods  and  high  financial  and  administrative 
ability.    Without  some  inducements  to  obtaining  greater  returns 


WALTER    S.    ALLEN.  1 6/ 


than  the  average  rate  of  interest  the  management  of  a  franchise  cor- 
poration will  content  itself  with  the  business  as  it  exists,  and  not 
be  eager  or  even  wilHng  to  introduce  improvements,  or  to  employ 
administrative  ability  sufficient  to  extend  and  improve  the  service. 
This  English  plan  does  not  provide  for  any  direct  payment  to  the 
community  as  a  whole,  so  that  this  plan,  instead  of  laying  a  special 
tax  upon  users  of  the  service,  gives  them  the  benefit  of  lower 
prices. 

The  entire  benefit  of  the  franchise  company  does  not,  as  is  com- 
monly assumed,  fall  to  the  promoters,  but  such  company  is  a  bene- 
fit to  the  community  at  large  as  well,  and  the  important  point  in 
making  the  accounts  of  such  companies  public  is  to  see  that  the 
promoters,  even  if  they  give  good  service,  obtain  not  more  than 
their  fair  share  of  the  financial  benefit,  but  it  must  not  be  assumed 
that  all  of  the  profit  beyond  an  ordinary  rate  of  interest  belongs  to 
the  municipality  as  a  whole.  The  establishment  of  any  of  the  class 
of  companies  here  considered  increases  the  value  of  the  whole  com- 
munity as  a  place  in  which  to  live,  raises  the  value  of  real  estate 
which  can  obtain  its  service,  and  in  this  way  a  community  gains 
largely  by  its  establishment. 

To  place  a  true  value  on  a  municipal  franchise  is,  even  with  the 
most  careful  and  strictly  controlled  bookkeeping,  very  difficult. 
Profits  must  undergo  a  good  many  deductions  before  the  profit 
over  and  above  the  ordinary  rate  of  interest  can  be  determined,  and 
before  the  community  can  rightly  lay  claim  to  any  part  of  the  net 
earnings,  and  it  is,  therefore,  essential  that  whatever  form  of  book- 
keeping be  determined  upon,  the  net  profits  should  be  charged 
with  interest  on  bonds,  with  wear  and  tear,  and  in  the  case  of  term- 
inable franchises,  with  a  proper  amount  for  extinguishing  the  cap- 
ital at  the  end  of  the  life  of  the  grant.  What  then  remains  might  be 
called  a  correct  net  profit,  and  from  that  the  ordinary  average  rate 
of  interest  should  be  deducted  and  the  balance  would  represent  the 
value  in  the  terms  of  earning  capacity  of  the  franchise  and  of  the 
business  ability  of  the  managers.  To  capitalize  this  amount  and 
call  that  the  value  of  the  franchise  would  not  be  entirely  correct, 
but  undoubtedly  a  large  portion  of  it  is  the  true  vakie  to  the  share- 
holders of  the  right  to  do  business  in  the  public  streets,  and  a  valu- 
ation upon  which  the  community,  which  does  not  own  but  has 


l68  ACCOUNTS  OF  GRANTEES. 

built  the  streets,  would  have  a  claim.  This  corrected  net  profit 
then,  over  and  above  the  usual  rate  of  interest,  should  be  divided 
between  the  shareholders  as  representing  administrative  ability, 
and  the  city  as  representing  the  grantor  of  the  franchise. 

The  analysis  of  the  accounts  of  a  franchise  company,  i.  e.,  the 
inference  to  be  drawn  from  the  accurate  data  supplied,  leads  up  to 
two  important  s^ibjects,  neither  of  which  is  provided  for  in  the  rec- 
ommendations of  the  committee.  One  is  the  regulation  of  the 
price  of  service,  and  the  other  the  regulation  of  the  rate  of  divi- 
dends. A  discussion  of  the  methods  which  may  be  employed  to 
settle  these  points  would  lead  too  far  for  the  scope  of  this  paper, 
but  an  attempt  has  been  made  here  to  show  the  importance  of  a 
carefully  worked  out  and  accurate  system  of  accounts,  and  of  a  dis- 
tinct understanding  of  the  nature  of  the  items  which  are  legiti- 
mately chargeable  to  income  before  the  actual  profit  of  the  under- 
taking can  be  determined.  By  securing  accurate  returns  from 
franchise  companies  and  by  careful  analysis  of  these  returns,  the 
relative  proportion  of  the  net  profits  due  to  each  of  the  parties  in- 
terested— the  users,  the  investors  and  the  whole  community — can 
be  ascertained.  In  this  way  only  may  reasonable  charges  for  serv- 
ice, fair  dividends  and  a  return  to  the  community  of  interest  on  that 
part  of  the  capital  which  it  supplies,  namely,  the  franchise,  be  se- 
cured. 


A  year's  advance.  169 


A  YEAR'S  ADVANCE. 


Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff,  Philadelphia. 


If  one  were  asked  to  characterize  the  distinguishing  feature  of 
the  growth  and  development  of  pubHc  interest  in  municipal  gov- 
ernment in  the  period  covered  by  the  existence  of  the  National 
Mimicipal  League,  he  would  be  entitled  to  reply.  "Continuous  and 
uninterrupted  progress." 

Each  year  I  find  the  preparation  of  this  annual  review  of  muni- 
cipal happenings  an  increasingly  difficult  task;  not  because  of  any 
lack  of  material,  but  because  of  its  increasing  abundance.  If  I 
were  to  mention  each  municipal  achievement  of  the  past  year  I 
should  unduly  extend  the  limits  of  my  review.  Indeed,  it  is  im- 
possible to  do  more  than  refer  to  the  more  important,  and  to 
touch  -upon  the  general  features  only. 

Since  the  League  was  organized  in  1894  in  New  York  City  it 
has  held  meetings  in  Minneapolis,  Cleveland,  Baltimore,  Louis- 
ville, Indianapolis,  and  this  year  we  meet  at  Columbus,  at  the  spe- 
cial invitation  of  the  Ohio  State  Board  of  Commerce,  the  Board 
of  Trade  of  Columbus,  and  the  Ohio  Municipal  Code  Commis- 
sion. These  meetings  have  brought  together  those  interested  in 
the  solution  of  the  pressing  municipal  problems  of  the  day;  but 
they  have  not  by  any  means  constituted  our  whole  work.  Not 
only  has  the  League  served  as  a  Bureau  of  Information,  but  also 
as  a  Clearing  Howse.  In  addition  to  this,  it  has  prepared  and  dis- 
tributed large  quantities  of  literature,  by  the  means  of  pamphlets, 
leaflets,  reports  and  articles  published  in  the  various  newspapers. 
No  better  test  of  the  importance  of  the  work  of  the  League  and 
its  effectiveness  is  to  be  had  than  the  support  which  has  been 
heartily  given  to  it  by  the  newspapers  of  the  United  States.  In- 
deed, a  large  part  of  the  effectiveness  of  our  work  is  directly  due  to 
this  co-operation. 


I/O  A    YEARS    ADVANCE. 


During  the  five  years  of  our  activity  there  has  sprung  up  a  lit- 
erature about  municipal  government  and  its  reform,  of  great  and 
lasting  value.  There  have  been  organized  in  the  numerous  cities 
strong  organizations  working  for  the  correction  of  existing  evils. 
The  number  of  active  workers  has  steadily  increased.  Public  opin- 
ion has  been  formed  and  organized;  and  still  there  are  those  who 
ask  that  something  tangible  be  shown  for  our  five  years'  work. 
Statistics  will  not  tell  the  story  of  our  activity.  We  might  speak 
of  the  number  of  meetings  held;  of  the  amount  of  literature  issued; 
of  the  number  of  newspaper  notices  received;  and  yet  come  far 
short  of  expressing  in  any  adequate  sense  the  impression  which 
our  conferences,  our  publications,  our  literature,  has  produced. 
Even  if  we  went  so  far  as  to  point  to  the  organizations  which  have 
been  formed  and  the  work  which  they  have  done,  we  would  still 
fall  short  of  telling  the  whole  truth,  simply  because  we  are  deal- 
ing with  a  matter  so  subtle  and  so  difficult  of  exact  determination 
that  figures  fail  to  give  us  any  adequate  impression  concerning  it. 

The  National  Municipal  League  has  steadily  worked  to  create  a 
deeper  and  more  widespread  interest  in  all  that  relates  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  our  cities.  It  has  sought  to  bring  together  in  effective 
co-operation  all  who  are  working  on  municipal  problems,  whether 
as  citizens  or  as  officials.  It  has  sought  to  create  a  public  opinion 
at  once  insistent  upon  higher  ideals  and  intolerant  of  inefficient 
execution.  That  we  have  succeeded  to  a  measurable  extent  is  evi- 
dent by  the  reception  given  to  our  literature;  by  the  attention  paid 
to  our  proceedings  by  the  press,  and  by  the  public  in  general;  and 
by  the  inquiries  which  come  to  us  daily  from  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. Within  a  day  your  Secretary  has  received  letters  of  inquiry 
from  Astoria,  Ore.;  Greenville.  O.;  Austin,  Tex.;  Nashville,  Tenn.; 
Kansas  City,  Mo.;  Lansing,  Mich. 

The  League,  however,  has  discharged  an  additional  function  in 
that  it  has  attempted  to  ascertain  actual  municipal  conditions;  and 
has  sought,  and  is  seeking,  to  frame  a  Municipal  Program,  which 
will  furnish  reformers  everywhere  a  definite  plan  of  action. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  trespass  upon  the  Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Municipal  Program,  which  will  be  read  later  on  at  this 
session,  but  it  is  fitting  to  say  that  the  effort  of  ':h<-  League  in  this 


CLINTCN    ROGERS    WOODRUFF.  I7I 

direction  has  met  with  a  very  general  support;  and  with  that  de- 
gree of  pubHc  interest  which  indicates  the  great  necessity  for  it. 

The  League  stands  pre-eminently  for  a  consideration  of  muni- 
cipal questions  separate  and  apart  from  State  or  national  politics. 
In  other  words,  for  the  breaking  down  of  party  lines  in  the  discus- 
sion and  determination  of  municipal  questions.  It  is  coming  to  be 
more  generally  recognized  than  ever  before  as  a  result  of  the  agi- 
tation persistently  maintained  by  the  League,  and  by  its  upwards 
of  one  hundred  affiliated  organizations,  that  State  and  national 
politics  should  have  no  part  in  municipal  affairs.  That  there  is 
a  growing  appreciation  of  this  important  principle  is  shown  by  a 
number  of  significant  events  in  the  past  two  or  three  years. 

Last  April  Baltimore  elected  a  Mayor  because  he  represented 
this  idea.  In  national  politics  he  was  opposed  to  the  majority  of 
the  city  as  expressed  at  the  two  preceding  Mayoralty  elections; 
but  because  the  voters  had  confidence  that  he  would  give  first  con- 
sideration and  first  attention  to  municipal  affairs;  and  ignore  na- 
tional and  State  politics,  they  elected  him  to  be  Mayor  over  a  man 
who  was  of  their  own  party  in  State  and  national  matters;  but 
who  gave  no  such  assurances.  In  Toledo  at  the  same  time  Mayor 
Jones,  who  ran  on  an  Independent  ticket,  and  was  opposed  by 
both  of  the  national  party  organizations,  polled  a  larger  vote  than 
both  of  his  opponents  together.  Why?  Because  his  candidacy 
represented  the  pre-eminency  of  municipal  affairs.  The  151,000 
votes  cast  for  Seth  Low  in  the  municipal  campaign  in  New  York 
bear  witness  to  the  same  effect. 

The  municipal  election  of  last  spring  in  Chicago  tells  the  same 
story.  Mayor  Harrison  was  re-elected,  not  because  his  views  on 
national  questions  were  approved ,  nor  because  his  participation  in 
State  and  national  politics  met  with  sympathy,  but  because  he 
represented  a  definite  stand  upon  a  definite  local  question.  Indeed, 
before  the  campaign  was  closed,  all  three  candidates  for  the  may- 
oralty were  compelled  by  public  sentiment  to  ignore  State  and  na- 
tional issues,  and  adhere  to  local  ones,  but  too  late  to  convince  a 
plurality  of  the  voters  of  their  sincerity  of  purpose. 

This  breaking  down  of  party  lines  where  municipal  questions 
are  involved  is  making  headway  in  another  direction.  If  the  ar- 
gument in  favor  of  a  divorce  of  municipal  affairs  from  State  and 


1/2  A    YEARS    ADVANCE. 


national  politics  holds  good,  the  contention  that  State  matters 
must  be  considered  from  a  State  standpoint,  and  not  from  a  na- 
tional standpoint,  must  be  equally  sound,  and  voters  are  begin- 
ning to  appreciate  this.  So  regular  and  orthodox  a  party  paper  as 
the  Philadelphia  "Press,"  in  the  campaign  of  1898,  said  that  "the 
party  appellation  of  the  Governor  was  of  secondary  consequence." 
Mayor  Jones  in  his  candidacy  for  the  Governorship  of  Ohio  this 
autumn,  represented  the  same  idea.  The  Business  Men's  Repub- 
lican League  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  election  just  passed,  definitely 
endorsed  the  Democratic  candidate  for  State  Treasurer,  and  main- 
tained in  defence  of  its  action  that  inasmuch  as  only  State  issues 
were  involved,  its  standing  in  national  matters  was  not  thereby 
jeopardized. 

This  tendency  toward  the  separation  of  municipal  from  State 
and  national  matters  is  not  confined  by  any  means  to  the  few  lo- 
calities mentioned,  nor  to  the  few  organizations  named;  but  evi- 
dences of  it  are  to  be  found  Vv'herever  men  come  together  to  dis- 
cuss any  phase  of  the  municipal  problem.  For  instance,  at  the  De- 
troit meeting  of  the  League  of  American  Municipalities  the  fol- 
lowing resolution  was  unanimously  adopted : 

"RESOLVED,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  convention  of  Ameri- 
can Municipalities,  that  municipal  questions  should  be  absolutely 
divorced  from  the  domain  of  partisan  politics  that  rule  in  State  and 
national  affairs.  The  municipalities  should  set  the  example  for  the 
State  and  nation  in  ministering  to  the  needs  of  all  the  people,  and 
the  best  results  cannot  be  secured  under  a  system  of  politics  that 
seeks  to  consider  as  first  only  the  interest  of  a  few  people  who  be- 
long to  the  dominant  party." 

The  editor  of  the  organ  of  the  League  of  California  Munici- 
palities says,  discussing  the  same  question,  "When  we  require 
adepts  to  run  our  cities,  our  universities  will  establish  a  depart- 
ment specially  to  fit  our  young  men  to  enter  the  new  profession 
of  conducting  municipal  business ;  then  it  would  be  but  natural  to 
expect  our  municipal  officers  to  hold  diplomas  from  such  institu- 
tions, just  as  we  now  require  our  school  teachers  to  have  certifi- 
cates as  to  their  ability  to  teach;  and  why  should  it  not  be  so?" 

The  position  taken  by  the  editor  of  "California  Municipalities" 
is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  old  idea  that  municipal  officers 


CLINTON    ROGERS   WOODRUFF.  173 


should  be  elected  on  national  platforms,  and  the  fact  that  a  city 
official  in  an  organ  for  city  officials  should  take  this  position  is  one 
of  the  most  gratifying  illustrations  which  I  can  adduce  as  to  the 
new  spirit  which  prevails  throughout  this  country,  to  an  extent  that 
five  years  ago  would  have  been  considered  impossible.  It  is  true 
that  politics  of  a  certain  kind  have  their  place  in  municipal  elec- 
tions; but  we  in  America  have  introduced  the  wrong  kind  of  poli- 
tics into  our  municipalities.  At  the  Philadelphia  Conference  for 
Good  City  Government  one  of  the  statements  of  prmciple  that  met 
with  the  most  hearty  endorsement  was,  "Municipal  parties  for 
Municipal  issues  and  National  parties  for  National  issues."  At  that 
time  he  would  have  been  regarded  as  an  optimistic  reformer,  in- 
deed, who  would  have  said  that  within  five  years  from  that  time 
an  organization  composed  of  city  officials  would  take  substantially 
the  same  ground,  and  that  the  editor  of  an  official  organ  should 
maintain  that  efficiency  was  of  first  consideration,  and  politics  sec- 
ond. 

Hand  in  hand  with  the  movement  to  divorce  municipal  from 
State  and  national  questions  is  that  for  the  introduction  of  the 
merit  system.  The  spoils  system  and  national  partisanship  in 
municipal  matters  go  hand  in  hand.  The  elimination  of  the  spoils 
system  means  the  elimination  of  national  partisanship  in  municipal 
affairs.  The  spoils  partisan  recognises  this,  and  devotes  his  force 
and  energy  to  combatting  the  introduction  of  the  merit  system,  but 
despite  his  efforts,  his  subtlety,  his  chicanery,  the  movement  for 
civil  service  reform  in  our  municipalities  goes  steadily  forward  and 
is  making  substantial  headway.  During  the  past  year  important 
advances  have  been  made.  The  most  conspicuous  of  these  is  in 
New  York,  where  an  act  was  passed  by  the  last  Legislature  repeal- 
ing the  so-called  Black  Act,  which  was  intended  by  its  author  "to 
take  the  starch  out  of  civil  service  reform."  The  Roosevelt  Act 
installs  the  genuine  merit  system. 

In  New  York  city  the  heads  of  the  Tammany  administration 
maintained  that  the  new  charter  established  a  separate  civil  ser- 
vice system  under  their  own  control  and  free  from  the  supervision 
of  the  State  Commission.  This  contention  was  disputed  in  the 
courts  by  the  Civil  Service  Reform  Association,  which  has  been 
sustained  by  the  Court  of  Appeals.    The  charter  rules,  however, 


174  ^    YEARS    ADVANCE. 


remained  in  force  during  the  whole  period  of  htigation,  and,  in  fact, 
continued  in  force  until  the  passage  of  the  recent  act,  April  19,  the 
ruling  of  the  court  at  that  time  still  being  in  process  of  enforce- 
ment. The  new  act  requires  the  reclassification  of  the  city  service 
under  strict  rules  subject  to  the  State  Commission;  but  upon  the 
failure  of  the  municipal  authorities  to  act,  the  said  Commission  is 
empowered  to  prescribe  and  enforce  rules  of  its  own.  The  munici- 
pal authorities  did  fail  to  act  and  on  July  11  a  complete  code  was 
framed  and  established  by  the  State  Board  and  is  now  in  full  force 
and  efifect. 

During  the  period  from  January  i,  1898,  to  July  11,  1899,  while 
the  former  rules  were  in  force,  appointments  after  competitive  ex- 
amination were  almost  the  exception  and  there  existed  no  prac- 
tical check  upon  the  use  of  the  city  offices  as  patronage.  The  re- 
sult was  that  after  the  new  government  had  been  fairly  launched, 
from  July,  1898,  to  J-uly,  1899,  there  occurred  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  city  employees  variously  estimated  from  three  to  eight 
thousand,  and  the  pay  roll,  as  the  department  heads  themselves 
admitted,  was  increased  more  than  $2,000,000  annually.  This  was 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  argument  had  been  that  with 
the  joining  of  offices  and  the  simplification  of  their  functions  the 
expenses  of  government  would  be  decreased. 

The  new  act  in  New  York  applies  equally  to  all  cities  and  the 
improvements  it  is  intended  to  effect  have  been  brought  about  in 
each  with  the  exception  of  three  or  four  of  the  smaller  ones,  which 
remain  to  be  brought  into  line.  A  recent  estimate  gives  the  num- 
ber of  municipal  emplosees  m  Greater  New  York  as  between 
52,000  and  53,000.  All  of  these,  with  the  exception  of  1000  minor 
employes  in  the  city  hospitals  and  institutions,  are  now  brought 
within  the  working  of  the  merit  system  and  subject  either  to  com- 
petitive examination  or  registration,  and  excepting  about  400  of 
the  higher  order,  which  are  still  classified  as  exempt.  The  new 
act  provides  also  that  the  employes  of  the  larger  coimties  shall  be 
classified  and  for  the  first  time  rules  are  about  to  be  extended  to 
these.  In  the  counties  embraced  in  Greater  New  York  about  1200 
additional  officers  will  be  brought  within  its  operation. 

The  new  San  Francisco  Charter,  adopted  by  popular  vote  and 
recently  sustained  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  California,  provides 


CLINTON    ROGERS    WOODRUFF.  1/5 


for  a  complete  system  of  civil  service  classification  and  regulation 
on  the  lines  of  the  rules  in  force  in  Chicago.  The  campaign  for  the 
charter  was  made  largely  upon  this  issue  and  the  result  is  accept- 
ed as  a  substantial  approval  of  the  merit  system. 

The  Civil  Service  Act  of  Illinois,  the  principal  application  of 
which  is  to  Chicago,  has  been  the  subject  of  further  litigation  dur- 
ing the  year,  all  of  which,  however,  has  resulted  favorably  to  the 
reform.  There  have  been  embarrassments  in  connection  with  the 
work  of  the  Commission  due  apparently  to  lack  of  sympathy  of 
certain  of  its  members,  but  there  has  been  no  impairment  of  the 
rules  themselves.  In  the  late  municipal  election  both  political  par- 
ties declared  in  unqualified  terms  in  favor  of  the  maintenance  of  the 
rules. 

The  experience  in  New  York  State,  in  San  Francisco  and  in 
Chicago,  all  point  to  one  conclusion,  that  the  people  when  they 
have  a  chance  to  express  their  opinion  are  in  favor  of  the  merit 
system,  and  that  the  politicians,  whenever  they  have  an  oppor- 
tunity, will  do  all  that  lies  within  their  power  to  retard  its  pro- 
gress. The  movement  for  the  establishment  of  the  reform  in  other 
cities  throughout  the  country  has  been  materially  advanced, 
though  there  is  none  other  in  which  rules  have  been  established 
during  the  year,  unless  we  include  the  cases  of  Pittsburg  and  Alle- 
gheny. At  the  request  of  the  heads  of  the  Police  and  Fire  Bureaus 
the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  passed  an  act  bringing  the  em- 
ployes of  these  bureaus  under  civil  service  regulations  of  a  char- 
acter similar  to  those  in  force  and  effect  in  New  York  and  Chi- 
cago. 

This  fact  may,  upon  its  face,  appear  to  be  at  variance  with  the 
statement  that  the  politicians  are  opposed  to  the  merit  system,  but 
it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  not  all  heads  of  departments  are 
politicians  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word  and  that  some  are 
more  interested  in  maintaining  the  efficiency  of  the  force  under 
them  than  in  making  places  for  insistent  and  shifty  politicians. 

There  has  been  no  abatement  in  the  movement  for  charter  re- 
form throughout  the  country.  It  has  gone  steadily  on;  succeeding 
here,  failing  for  the  present  there,  only  to  be  followed  by  still  more 
vigorous  efiforts. 


176  A  year's  advance. 


In  Somerville,  Mass.;  Providence,  R.  I.;  Greater  New  York;  in 
the  second  class  cities  of  New  York;  in  Jersey  City,  in  Pittsburg-, 
in  Wilmington,  Del.;  in  Baltimore;  in  Raleigh,  N.  C;  in  Jackson- 
ville; in  Grand  Rapids;  in  Milwaukee  and  other  Wisconsin  cities; 
in  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  Duluth,  Mankato,  in  fact,  in  all  the  Min- 
nesota cities  of  any  size;  in  Chattanooga;  in  Nashville;  in  San  An- 
tonio; in  Denver;  in  Spokane;  in  San  Francisco,  Los  Angeles,  San 
Jose  and  other  California  cities,  movements  for  charter  amend- 
ments or  a  new  charter  have  been  inaugurated,  and  in  many  in- 
stances prosecuted  to  a  successful  end. 

Of  the  excellent  work  of  the  Ohio  Municipal  Code  Commission, 
which  will  make  its  report  to  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature 
in  this  State,  we  shall  hear  more  this  evening. 

In  Indiana,  the  Township  Commission,  the  chairman  of  which 
is  one  of  us,  has  completed  its  labors.  Its  recommendations  have 
practically  been  accepted  in  their  entirety  by  the  Indiana  Legisla- 
ture, and  while  they  have  been  in  operation  but  a  few  weeks,  the 
results  from  them  have  alread}-  made  them  extremely  popular  in 
the  State,  and  I  am  told  by  close  observers  that  they  will  undoubt- 
edly mark  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of  better  local  government 
in  America. 

The  League  of  Winconsin  Municipalities,  under  the  leadership 
of  its  officials  and  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Municipal  League 
of  Milwaukee,  an  affiliated  member  of  the  National  Municipal 
League,  has  taken  up  with  great  vigor  the  Municipal  Corporations 
Act  recommended  by  our  Committee  on  Municipal  Program  and 
its  efforts  bid  fair  to  be  crowned  at  an  early  day  with  that  success 
which  their  sincerity  and  persistency  merit. 

There  has  been  no  more  substantial  indication  of  the  growing 
public  interest  in  municipal  problems  than  the  discussion  during 
the  past  year  of  the  question  of  the  municipal  ownership,  control 
and  operation  of  municipal  franchises.  At  the  Detroit  meeting  of 
the  League  of  American  Municipalities  the  sentiment  of  the  offi- 
cials of  the  cities  there  represented  was  unqualifiedly,  and,  I  think 
I  am  justifiel  in  saying  practically  unanimous  in  favor  of  the 
municipal  ownership,  control  and  operation  of  the  principal 
municipal  franchises.  Since  that  time  the  whole  question  has  been 
discussed  with  a  degree  of  care  and  thoroughness  that  indicates  be- 


CLINTON    ROGKRS    WOODRUFF.  177 


yond  question  that  the  people  are  thinking  upon  the  subject,  and 
thinking  with  a  view  to  determining  once  and  for  all  the  funda- 
mental policy  involved. 

I  cannot  within  the  limits  of  this  report  refer  even  cursorily  to 
the  numerous  attempts  made  throughout  the  country  on  the  part 
of  various  municipalities  to  assume  the  control  and  operation  of 
important  municipal  undertakings  such  as  water  plants,  gas  and 
electric  lighting  plants. 

Perhaps  the  one  experiment  which  attracted  most  attention  was 
the  attempt  of  Governor  Pingree,  of  Michigan,  whose  long  career 
as  Mayor  of  Detroit  has  given  him  a  national  reputation  as  a 
municipal  administrator  of  power  and  aggressiveness,  to  test  the 
matter  of  the  municipal  operation  of  a  street  railway  system.  Gov- 
ernor Pingree,  with  characteristic  vigor  and  persistency,  overcame 
all  of  the  minor  obstacles,  but  was  finally  defeated  by  a  decision  of 
the  court  to  the  effect  that  under  the  Constitution  of  Michigan  as 
it  now  stands  it  was  impossible  for  the  city  of  Detroit  to  operate 
its  street  railways.  The  attempted  experiment  of  Governor  Pin- 
gree attracted  general  attention  throughout  the  United  States  and 
the  eyes  of  all  interested  in  municipal  affairs  were  directed  to  the 
outcome  of  his  efforts.  No  single  municipal  undertaking  of  the 
past  year  attracted  more  widespread  attention  or  created  a  more 
general  interest.  There  is  a  feeling  of  regret,  I  think,  throughout 
the  country  that  he  was  unable  to  carry  out  his  experiment  and 
demonstrate  the  practicability  or  impracticability  of  an  American 
city  operating  street  railways. 

Another  illustration  of  the  hold  which  the  municipal  ownership 
idea  has  upon  the  public  is  provided  by  the  re-election  of  Mayor 
Jones  in  Toledo  last  spring.  As  I  have  pointed  out,  he  was  nom- 
inated on  an  independent  platform,  which  unqualifiedly  and  with- 
out reservation  indorsed  the  principle  of  the  municipal  ownership,, 
operation  and  control  of  municipal  franchises,  and  his  triumphant 
election  by  an  overwhelming  majority  clearly  indicated  that  the 
idea  for  which  he  prominently  stood  was  one  which  had  a  tre- 
mendous hold  upon  the  people  of  Toledo. 

The  victory'  of  Mayor  Harrison  in  Chicago  is  indicative  of  the 
same  feeling.  There  were  many  citizens  of  Chicago  who  were 
displeased  with  many  of  the  acts  of  Air.  Harrison  in  connection 


178  A  year's  advance. 


with  the  administration  of  the  Civil  Service  rules  and  regulations 
and  his  administration  of  the  police,  but  his  brave  and  manly- 
stand  upon  the  street  railway  question  won  for  him  a  popularity 
which  outweighed  all  other  considerations  and  secured  his  tri- 
umphant re-election. 

Not  the  last  gratifying  fact  which  I  have  to  chronicle  is  the  sub- 
stantial service  in  the  cause  of  good  government  rendered  by 
many  city  officials  now  in  office.  The  leadership  of  Mayor 
Quincy,  of  Boston,  in  all  matters  relating  to  municipal  progress 
and  developments  is  too  well  known  to  need  more  than  a  passing 
reference.  Mayor  Quincy's  administration  has  been  character- 
ized by  a  breadth  of  view  and  grasp  of  the  municipal  problem 
which  place  him  at  the  head  of  American  municipal  administra- 
tors. While  there  may  be  differences  of  opinion  concerning  cer- 
tain of  his  proposals,  there  can  be  none  as  to  the  public  spirit  and 
intelligence  with  which  he  has  executed  the  important  duties  of 
his  office. 

The  substantial  services  of  Comptroller  Coler,  of  Greater  New 
York,  have  likewise  been  very  generally  recognized.  His  cour- 
ageous stand  in  defense  of  the  city's  rights  and  in  behalf  of  an  en- 
lightened economy,  and  especially  his  vigorous  onslaught  upon 
the  infamous  Ramapo  water  deal,  are  fresh  in  mind.  The  charter 
of  Greater  New  York  makes  the  Comptroller  an  official  of  extra- 
ordinary powers  and  responsibility.  Not  only  is  he  the  custodian 
of  every  dollar  received  by  the  city,  and  personally  responsible  for 
the  disbursements  of  all  moneys  of  the  city,  but  he  collects  all 
taxes  and  assessments  and  duties  and  pays  all  claims  against  the 
city.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Estimate,  and  no  appropri- 
ation for  any  department  nor  any  bond  issue  authorized  by  the 
board  is  legal  without  his  approval.  As  a  member  of  the  Sinking 
Fund  Commission,  no  lease  of  the  city  property  can  be  made  with- 
out his  approval.  In  addition,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Pubhc  Improvements  and  Commission  for  the  Revision  of  Assess- 
ments. When  it  is  recalled  that  the  disbursements  of  New  York 
City  in  1898  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  millions 
of  dollars,  some  slight  conception  of  the  importance  of  this  office 
may  be  had.  That  Mr,  Coler  has  so  administered  the  enormous 
powers  and  the  diversified  duties  of  his  office  as  to  meet  with  the 


CLINTON    ROGERS    WOODRUFF.  1 79 

general  approval  of  his  fellow-citizens  and  municipal  students  gen- 
erally is  of  itself  an  enviable  accomplishment.  But  he  has  done 
more  than  this.  He  has  used  the  great  powers  entrusted  to  his 
care  to  protect  the  highest  and  best  interests  of  the  city.  His 
prompt  and  efficient  action  has  preserved  the  credit  of  the  city  and 
saved  it  from  the  clutch  of  a  grasping  syndicate  of  money  lenders. 
He  has  likewise  maintained  the  credit  of  the  city  by  defeating  the 
members  of  the  municipal  legislature  in  their  attempt  to  "hold 
up"  the  departments  until  their  demands  for  spoils  and  patronage 
had  been  complied  with.  But  above  all  and  beyond  all,  he  de- 
serves credit  for  the  courageous  stand  he  has  taken  in  behalf  of 
the  continued  municipal  ownership  and  control  and  operation  of 
the  water  system  of  Greater  New  York. 

I  have  thus  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  achievements  of  Mr. 
Coler,  not  only  because  they  intrinsically  merit  it,  but  because 
they  furnish  an  illustration  of  what  a  brave,  conscientious  public 
official  can  do.  Although  Mr.  Coler  was  elected  as  a  partisan,  he 
left  partisanship  behind  when  he  assumed  the  control  of  his  office. 
Unlike  those  who  were  elected  at  the  same  time  he  was,  he  has 
placed  public  interests  first,  party  interests  second,  and  with  what 
results?  Not  only  has  he  protected  the  city  and  advanced  its  in- 
terests, but  he  enjoys  a  reputation  throughout  the  country  to-day 
which  he  could  never  have  enjoyed  if  he  had  put  party  first  and 
public  interest  second.  The  excuse  is  often  made  by  weak  and 
complacent  officials,  that  they  would  do  dififerently  if  they  had 
public  support.  The  experience  of  Mayor  Quincy,  Comptroller 
Coler,  Mayor  Jones  and  Mayor  Harrison  clearly  demonstrates 
that  the  law-abiding,  conscientious  and  fearless  official  has  noth- 
ing to  fear  in  the  way  of  public  support,  if  the  people  are  only 
convinced  that  he  is  sincere  in  his  desire  to  advance  public  ends. 

The  growing  interest  of  city  officials  in  purely  municipal  af- 
fairs is  to  be  noted  in  another  direction.  It  seems  strange  that  it 
is  necessary  to  refer  to  such  a  matter;  it  ought  to  go  without  say- 
ing that  the  city  official  is  interested  in  municipal  afifairs;  but  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  we  know  that  in  times  past  the  city  official's  in- 
terest in  municipal  affairs  has  been  in  many  instances  slight,  and 
confined  to  doing  as  little  as  possible  for  the  city  and  as  much  as 
possible  for  the  party,  and  this  is  the  direct  outgrowth  of  the 


i8o  A  year's  advance. 


pernicious  partisanship  to  which  we  have  referred.  As  long  as 
city  officials  are  elected  as  party  candidates  and  not  as  men  who 
are  fitted  to  control  the  office,  so  long  we  shall  have  city  officials 
who  will  relegate  city  afifairs  to  a  second  place  in  their  considera- 
tion. When,  however,  we  have  city  officials  elected  on  municipal 
issues  and  because  of  their  administrative  fitness,  then  we  shall 
have  a  different  state  of  affairs.  The  organization  of  the  League 
of  American  Municipalities  has  been  watched  with  much  interest. 
As  was  pointed  out  in  our  last  annual  report,  it  has  great  possibili- 
ties for  usefulness.  It  is  a  matter  of  congratulation  that  we  are 
able  to  say  that  it  is  rising  to  a  true  conception  of  these  possibili- 
ties. Its  Syracuse  meeting  marked  a  great  advance  over  pre- 
ceding meetings,  not  only  in  the  character  of  topics  discussed,  but 
in  the  intelligence  and  interest  manifested  in  their  discussion. 

This  League  of  Municipalities  is  not  the  only  national  associa- 
tion of  municipal  officials,  however.  Various  other  organizations 
have  recently  been  formed.  The  National  Association  of  Munici- 
pal Electricians  held  its  annual  meeting  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  last 
September.  It  was  characterized  by  an  intelligent  comprehension 
of  the  problems  with  which  its  members  had  to  deal,  and  a  degree 
of  devotion  to  duty  which  augurs  well  for  the  future.  When  our 
city  officials  come  together  for  conference  and  consultation  con- 
cerning the  interests  committed  to  their  care,  then,  indeed,  we 
have  an  evidence  of  an  aroused  interest  in  municipal  affairs  which 
is  most  promising.  Imagine  a  meeting  of  city  officials  ten  or 
fifteen  years  ago  to  discuss  city  affairs,  and  yet  now  not  only  have 
we  a  League  of  American  Municipalities,  but  there  are  at  least  ten 
State  Leagues  of  Municipalities,  all  manifesting  a  marked 
degree  of  activity.  In  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  Kansas,  California,  Connecticut,  Florida,  and  recent- 
ly in  Pennsylvania,  we  find  the  city  officials  meeting  in  annual  ses- 
sion to  debate  municipal  topics  and  to  exchange  ideas  as  to  mu- 
nicipal administration. 

The  evidence  of  municipal  progress,  however,  is  not  confined 
to  officials  in  office  and  their  activity.  The  citizens  of  the  various 
cities  throughout  the  country  have  not  been  wanting  in  intelli- 
gence and  comprehensive  effort  to  promote  municipal  reform. 
In  New  York  the  City  and  Reform  Clubs  have  carried  on  with  an 


CLINTON    ROGERS   WOODRUFF.  lOl 

increasing  degree  of  efficiency  their  respective  lines  of  work.  Dur- 
ing the  past  session  of  the  Legislature  the  former  prepared  a  series 
of  publications  deaHng  with  bills  relating  to  the  city.  Copies  of 
these  circulars  were  sent  to  the  members  of  the  Legislature,  to  the 
Governor,  to  the  newspapers  and  to  members  of  the  Club  and 
those  known  to  be  interested  in  the  subjects  treated.  They  had  a 
decided  influence  upon  the  intelligent  and  conscientious  legislator, 
and  the  continuance  of  this  work  is  bound,  sooner,  or  later,  to 
make  the  enactment  of  good  legislation  easier  and  of  bad  legisla- 
tion more  difficult.  The  campaign  of  the  City  Club  in  behalf  of 
unassessed  judges  has  attracted  attention  to  the  glaring  evil  of 
the  intervention  of  party  influence  and  party  organization  in  mu- 
nicipal matters.  The  Club's  petition  to  the  Governor,  calling  his 
attention  to  the  derelictions  of  the  District  Attorney  of  New  York, 
will  have  important  results,  even  though  it  may  fail  of  its  immedi- 
ate object.  The  existence  of  an  organization  like  the  City  Club 
of  New  York,  always  ready  to  call  attention,  without  fear  or  favor, 
to  the  shortcomings  of  officials  and  to  aid  by  advice  and  sugges- 
tion in  the  enactment  of  wholesome  legislation,  is  of  itself  of  the 
utmost  importance. 

The  work  of  the  Reform  Club  along  educational  lines  has  been 
maintained.  Its  excellent  quarterly  journal,  "Municipal  Afifairs," 
has  had,  and  is  having,  a  decided  influence  in  the  direction  of  es- 
tablishing a  high  standard  in  all  matters  relating  to  municipal 
policy. 

What  has  come  to  be  known  as  the  "Trenton  Movement"  seems 
likely  to  prove  a  valuable  method  as  to  one  way  of  awakenmg  pub- 
lic opinion.  Upon  invitation  of  one  of  the  Baptist  clergymen  of 
that  city,  the  president  and  secretary  of  the  League  for  Social  Ser- 
vice, conducted  an  eight  days'  campaign,  or  as  I  presume  it  might 
be  called,  a  series  of  municipal  evangelistic  services  intended  to 
arouse  the  people  of  Trenton  to  their  duties  as  citizens.  The 
meetings  were  successful  in  that  they  brought  out  many  men  of 
high  and  low  degree,  who  for  years  had  had  little  or  no  interest  in 
the  ch4.irch  or  in  public  matters.  As  the  Mayor  of  the  city  said,  "I 
would  have  been  a  better  Mayor  if  I  had  heard  these  addresses  at 
the  beginning  instead  of  the  end  of  my  administration,  and  some 
of  the  suggested  reforms  would  have  been  undoubtedly  inaugu- 


1 82  A  year's  advance. 


rated."  I  am  told  "that  already  many  thoughtful  and  influential 
men  and  women  have  expressed  a  determination  as  a  result  of 
these  meetings  to  seek  some  avenues  of  public  service  to  express  in 
concrete  form  the  teachings  which  they  heard." 

Like  the  City  Club  of  New  York,  the  Municipal  League  of 
Philadelphia  has  exercised  a  wholesome  influence  in  its  criticisms 
of  public  officials  and  their  conduct.  Its  last  annual  report  con- 
tains a  record  of  service  of  far  greater  value  than  the  mere  recount- 
ing of  its  activities  would  at  first  seem  to  indicate.  Its  action  in 
connection  with  other  organizations  in  agitating  for  an  improved 
w-ater  supply;  its  conduct  of  a  suit  to  determine  the  right  of  the 
Governor  to  veto  a  proposed  constitutional  amendment  to  the  State 
Constitution ;  its  activity  in  behalf  of  open  competition  in  the  mat- 
ter of  electric  lighting;  its  municipal  campaign  in  behalf  of  munici- 
pal candidates  and  its  legislative  work,  form  a  record  of  which  any 
municipal  organization  might  feel  proud.  Public  opinion  mani- 
fests itself  more  slowly  in  Pennsylvania  than  elsewhere,  but  none 
the  less  surely.  There  is  gradually  forming  in  Philadelphia  and  in 
the  State  at  large  a  sentiment  intolerant  of  corrupt  political  meth- 
ods which  sooner  or  later  will  result  in  an  ending  of  the  present 
regime  which  has  brought  the  fair  name  of  the  State  and  its 
municipalities  into  discredit.  The  exposure  of  the  methods  pur- 
sued by  prominent  politicians  in  using  State  and  city  funds  as  if 
they  w^ere  private  assets  has  cleared  the  atmosphere  and  has  made 
a  recurrence  of  such  conduct  practically  impossible.  The  action 
of  the  Municipal  League  in  conducting  municipal  campaigns  upon 
municipal  platforms,  dealing  only  with  municipal  issues,  is  direct- 
ing the  attention  of  the  people  to  the  folly  and  unwisdom  of  deter- 
mining matters  of  local  importance  upon  irrelevant  issues. 

The  result  of  the  April  election  in  Baltimore  was  a  great  triumph 
for  good  government.  The  Independents,  under  the  leadership 
of  the  Baltimore  Reform  League,  vigorously  supported  the  Demo- 
cratic ticket  and  it  is  quite  universally  Conceded  that  their  support 
determined  the  result.  The  Mayor  elected  was  a  most  active  mem- 
ber of  the  new  Charter  Commission  and  was,  perhaps,  more  re- 
sponsible than  any  one  else  for  its  provisions,  so  far  as  these  relate 
to  the  organization  of  the  city  government.  During  the  campaign 
he  pledged  himself  most  emphatically  and  most  explicitly  to  a  non- 


CLINTON    ROGERS   WOODRUFF.  1 83 

partisan  administration  conducted  upon  business  principles.  The 
other  officers  elected  are  also  quite  unusually  well  qualified  for 
their  respective  positions.  There  are,  of  course,  a  few  black 
sheep  in  Councils,  but  it  is,  taken  as  a  whole,  I  am  advised, 
"the  best  city  government  Baltimore  has  had  for  many  years." 
As  Mr.  Bonaparte  has  said,  "We  achieved  a  great  victory  for 
the  principles  of  the  National  Municipal  League;  the  is- 
sue was  clearly  drawn,  the  Democrats  making  their  canvass 
on  the  basis  of  separating  municipal  from  State  and  na- 
tional issues,  while  the  Republicans  distinctly  denied  the  pos- 
sibility of  doing  this  and  conducted  a  purely  partisan  campaign. 
The  result  has  shown  beyond  all  question  that  the  independ- 
ent vote  here  holds  the  balance  of  power  and  that  on  the 
whole  we  have,  in  my  opinion,  a  better  chance  for  a  good  govern- 
ment conducted  on  business  principles  in  Baltimore  during  the 
next  four  years  than  any  other  great  city  of  the  country.  This  is 
a  remarkable  and  very  gratifying  change  since  I  read  my  paper  at 
our  first  Conference  for  Good  City  Government,  but  I  see  no  rea- 
son to  doubt  the  correctness  of  my  opinion  and  you  know  1  am  not 
especially  inclined  to  optimism." 

From  Richmond,  Va.,  comes  the  news  that  the  League  for  Good 
City  Government  did  not  succeed  in  electing  its  entire  ticket  at  the 
last  municipal  election,  but  it  elected  enough  honorable  business 
men  to  control  practically  both  branches  of  City  Councils.  The 
result  has  been  most  desirable  in  every  way.  Economy  is  now  the 
watchword  and  erstwhile  opponents  of  the  League  are  trying  to 
outdo  its  friends.  Observant  citizens  say  that  Richmond's  affairs 
have  never  been  so  well  managed  as  now. 

From  Chattanooga  equally  good  news  comes.  Former  Mayor 
Ochs,  now  a  member  of  our  Executive  Committee,  writes,  "I  feel 
much  encouraged  over  the  situation  here.  We  have  now  incor- 
porated in  our  charter,  thanks  to  the  good  work  which  was  done' 
last  spring  by  the  Independents,  a  clause  which  prevents  any  offi- 
cer or  employe  of  a  quasi-public  corporation  having  any  contract 
relations  whatsoever  with  the  city  or  from  holding  any  municipal 
office.  Furthermore  another  clause  which  provides  that  the  power 
of  the  Mayor  and  Alderman  in  granting  franchises  is  limited  and 
that  no  franchise  can  be  granted  for  a  longer  time  than  twenty- 


184  A  year's  advance. 


one  years  and  no  franchise  shall  be  granted  except  for  a  consider- 
ation." 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  results  obtained  by  the  Inde- 
pendents in  Toledo.  In  Cleveland  the  Citizens'  Municipal  Asso- 
ciation cut  an  equally  notable  figure  in  April  in  the  election  of 
Mayor  Farley.  While  it  is  true  that  various  factors  co-operated 
in  defeating  the  machine  candidate  for  Mayor,  the  Municipal  As- 
sociation deserves  a  large  share  of  the  credit  because  it  inauguarted 
the  fight  and  presented  the  charges  which  the  machine  candidate 
was  unable  to  refute.  The  officials  of  the  Association  feel  that  he 
was  defeated  because  of  their  vigorous  and  unceasing  warfare 
against  him,  and  by  reason  of  the  effort  which  it  made  to  advance 
the  people  a  step  towards  municipal  reform  and  the  breaking  down 
of  party  lines  in  municipal  contests.  The  Association  was  assisted 
by  business  and  professional  men  and  others  interested  in  securing 
better  government.  To-day  everyone  in  Cleveland  understands 
that  there  is  in  existence  an  association  working  for  better  gov- 
ernm.ent,  scrutinizing  the  conduct  of  public  officials  and  bold 
enough  in  its  membership  to  attack  any  public  officer  seeking  re- 
election whose  record  is  bad. 

In  Detroit  the  Good  Government  League  participated  in  the 
regular  spring  election.  Four  of  the  candidates  for  Circuit  Judges 
endorsed  by  it  were  elected,  while  the  fifth  came  within  thirty-four 
votes  of  being  elected.  All  the  candidates  for  School  Directors 
endorsed  by  it  were  elected.  Although  defeated  in  some  of  its  con- 
tests nevertheless  it  deserves  to  be  congratulated  on  the  results 
which  it  has  accomplished  in  electing  a  School  Board  freer  from 
politics  than  any  for  years.  The  Municipal  League  of  Milwaukee 
has  performed  an  effective  and  valued  service  in  bringing  to  the 
attention  of  the  people  of  Wisconsin  the  merits  of  the  Constitution- 
al Amendment  and  Municipal  Corporation  Act  prepared  by  the 
Committee  on  Municipal  Program  of  the  National  Municipal 
League.  It  is  due  to  its  energy  and  initiative  that  the  question  of 
an  improved  form  of  municipal  government  has  become  a  burn- 
ing question  in  Wisconsin.  In  Minneapolis  the  present  Mayor 
was  elected  by  the  Republicans  who  voted  against  their  party  can- 
didate avowedly  because  as  an  Alderman  he  had  stood  for  an  ad- 
ministration which  had  been  anything  but  satisfactory.     The  re- 


CLINTON    ROGERS   WOODRUFF.  1 85 


suit  emphasized  the  popular  protest  against  misgovernment  and 
the  independence  of  the  voters  of  Minneapolis.  In  Oakland  and 
in  Alameda  and  in  Santa  Clara,  Cal,  the  reform  organizations  also 
won  substantial  victories. 

Indeed,  the  number  of  important  achievements  in  the  way  of 
the  election  of  men  to  municipal  offices,  irrespective  of  their  party 
afifiliations,  but  illustrates  again  the  growing  tendency  to  disre- 
gard party  lines  in  municipal  contests.  To  be  sure  the  municipal 
problem  is  far  from  solution;  there  are  many  evils  deeply  rooted 
and  strongly  entrenched  which  years  of  activity  and  organization 
will  be  required  to  eliminate;  nevertheless  the  indications  every- 
where are  encouraging. 

If  I  may  be  permitted  to  quote  from  a  few  representative  re- 
ports, you  will  see  what  I  mean.     From  Pordand,  Oregon,  comes 
the  word  that  "with  all  its  faults  our  Commitee  of  One  Hundred 
did  probably  the  best  work  for  the  future  that  has  ever  been  done 
and  the  corrective  effects  upon  our  institution  are  manifest.     In 
fact,  there  is  a  steady  trend  upon  the  part  of  the  city  and  county 
towards  better  government  and  a  more  decided  growth  of  the 
feeling  of  good  citizenship  in  the  people  at  large,  and  the  demand 
that  they  make  for  better  administration."     From  Raleigh,  N. 
C,  we  learn  that  although  an  effort  to  reorganize  the  municipality 
by  means  of  the  revision  of  the  Charter  by  the  last  General  Assem- 
bly failed.  "We  failed  because  the  people  were  not  quite  prepared 
for  it;  but  there  is  every  reason  to  feel  hopeful  that  out  of  the  fail- 
ure will  come  ultimate  success."     From  the  Santa  Barbara  Civic 
Club,  that  "we  are  convinced  that,  in  spite  of  our  short  life,  we  have 
done  much  toward  arousing  a  better  public  sentiment  in  this  city." 
From  Wilmington,  N.  C,  that  it  "has  put  on  new  life  and  energy, 
and  the  people  are  sanguine  in  regard  to  her  future."     As  to  St. 
Louis,  "It  is  a  pleasure  to  record  that  the  Mayor's  appointments 
last  spring  were  a  pleasant  surprise.     As  a  whole,  they  are  fair 
and  calculated  to  make  as  much  as  possible  out  of  bad  conditions. 
They  may  be  regarded  as  an  unwilling  confession  that  the  real 
political  plans  could  not  be  carried  out,  and  if  one  or  one  and  a 
half  years  from  now  a  business  man  of  fair  experience  and  intel- 
ligence is  placed  at  the  head,  it  is  entirely  possible  that  the  com- 
bination may  prove  the  beginning  of  one  of  those  periodical  up- 


1 86  A  year's  advance. 


lifting-s  to  which  municipal  government  is  indebted  for  many  of  its 
advances.'' 

To  my  mind  the  most  hopeful  sign  of  the  situation  is  the  amount 
of  permanent  work  in  behalf  of  better  municipal  government  that 
is  being  accomplished.  In  Boston,  we  have  the  Municipal 
League;  in  Cambridge,  the  Library  Hall  Association;  in  New 
York,  the  City  Club;  in  Philadelphia,  the  Municipal  League;  in 
Baltimore,  a  Reform  League;  in  Cleveland,  a  Citizens'  Municipal 
Association;  in  Chicago,  a  Civic  Federation;  in  San  Francisco,  a 
Merchants'  Association;  in  Milwaukee,  a  Municipal  League,  all 
permanent  organizations;  all  working  unceasingly  for  better  gov- 
ernment; not  spasmodically,  not  sporadically,  not  intermittently; 
but  persistently,  courageously,  fearlessly.  If  the  people  of  our 
American  municipalities  are  ever  to  solve  their  problems,  it  must 
be  by  work  of  this  kind.  I  could  occupy  your  time  to  a  much 
greater  extent  in  a  recital  of  the  activity  of  the  upwards  of  two 
hundred  organizations  working  in  this  country  for  better  munici- 
pal government;  but  all  to  the  same  end — that  we  may  have  im- 
proved municipal  government. 

At  the  Mohonk  National  Arbitration  Conference  last  June  I  was 
greatly  impressed  with  the  wonderful  speech  of  Edward  Everett 
Hale  on  his  favorite  topic  of  an  International  Court  of  Arbitra- 
tion. After  reciting  the  facts  well  known  to  the  students  of  our 
history  that  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  L^^nited  States  for  many 
days  and  months  had  practically  no  business  to  transact,  he  said, 
"Perhaps  the  National  Court  of  Arbitration  would  have  no  busi- 
ness for  some  time  to  transact;  but  it  would  exist."  He  described 
how  the  members  would  come  together  in  Switzerland,  perhaps, 
and  take  out  their  books  and  hire  a  hall,  and  the  Court  would  ex- 
ist. Th  cynics  would  come  along  and  say,  "What  have  you 
done?"  Nothing,  but  the  Court  exists.  Next  week,  and  the 
next,  the  Court  does  nothing;  but  it  exists.  And  while  the  Lord 
Salisburys  and  Joseph  Chamberlains  and  the  heads  of  govern- 
ments are  looking  around  for  some  case  trifling  enough  to  be  re- 
ferred to  the  Court,  it  exists. 

So  with  the  municipal  reform  movement.  The  forces  making 
for  better  government  in  some  sections  are  defeated  in  their  early 
campaigns;   but  they   persist.     Workers  com.e  and   go  and  are 


CLINTON    ROGERS    WOODRUFF.  1 8/ 


diverted  from  their  original  purpose;  but  the  movement  for  good 
government  persists.  The  candidate  elected  on  a  reform  ticket 
may  prove  untrue  to  his  pledges;  but  the  reform  movement  per- 
sists. Some  organizations  may  disband,  and  in  others  the  active 
members  may  drop  out;  but  the  movement  persists.  Critics  and 
cynics  and  spoilsmen  will  say,  "What  have  you  done?"  The  an- 
swer is,  we  have  persisted. 

The  National  Municipal  League  and  its  affiliated  organizations 
stand  for  persistence  in  this  matter  of  securing  bett-r  city  govern- 
ment. Men  "may  come  and  men  may  go;  organizations  may 
come  and  organizations  may  go ;  but  the  movement  for  good  city 
government  will  go  on  and  persist.  When  the  American  people 
are  aroused  as  to  the  importance  of  any  problem,  and  when  they 
realize  the  necessity  for  its  solution,  it  is  only  a  question  of  time 
when  the  matter  will  be  settled.  Our  history  is  full  of  illustrations 
of  this  trait  of  American  character,  and  while  at  the  present  time 
there  are  many  depressing  facts  in  connection  with  our  municipal 
government  and  there  are  many  instances  which  arouse  our  indig- 
nation and  make  our  blood  boil,  and  many  other  things  which 
make  our  hearts  sad,  yet  on  the  other  side  we  must  not  overlook 
the  fact  that  the  tendency  points  toward  brighter  days;  that  the 
indications  are  that  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  of  municipal  govern- 
ment is  not  so  far  distant  as  some  of  us  thought  five  years  ago 
when  we  came  together  in  our  first  Conference  for  Good  City 
Government. 


THE    OHIO    MUNICIPAL   CODE    COMMISSION, 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OHIO  MUNICIPAL  CODE 
COMMISSION. 


Edward  Kibler,  Newark,  Ohio. 


The  Municipal  Code  Commission  of  Ohio  was  created  by  an 
act  of  the  Legislature,  passed  April  25,  1898,  the  title  of  which 
was  "An  Act  to  Authorize  the  Governor  to  Appoint  a  Commission 
to  revise  the  Municipal  Code  of  the  State,"  and  provided  that  the 
Governor  should  appoint  twO'  persons  to  revise  the  laws  relating 
to  the  organization  of  cities  and  villages  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and 
required  the  Commission  to  prepare  a  bill  for  the  organization  of 
cities  and  villages  in  Ohio,  upon  a  plan  of  organization  which  shall 
be  uniform  in  its  operation  throughout  the  State,and  in  which  there 
shall  be  a  separation  of  the  legislative  and  executive  powers  of  the 
officers  of  the  municipal  corporation;  such  bill  to  be  prepared  in 
form  to  be  acted  upon  and  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly,  and 
the  Commission  is  required  also  to  prepare  an  explanation  and 
analysis  of  the  bill,  which,  together  with  the  bill,  shall  be  reported 
to  the  Governor  prior  to  the  assembling  to  the  next  General  As- 
sembly, and  the  same  shall  be  by  the  Governor  submitted  to  the 
General  Assembly  for  its  action  thereon,  with  such  recommenda- 
tions as  he  may  deem  proper. 

On  the  17th  day  of  June,  1898,  the  Governor  of  the  State  ap- 
pointed David  F.  Pugh  and  Edward  Kibler  as  members  of  this 
Commission,  who  since  that  time  have  been  engaged  upon  this 
work  of  revision. 

The  bill  proper  has  been  prepared  and  printed  and  is  complete 
with  the  exception  that  the  repealing  and  amending  statutes  are 
in  course  of  preparation  and  do  not  appear  as  a  part  of  the  printed 
bill. 

In  the  limited  time  allotted  to  me  I  can  do  no  more  than  give  a 
brief  description  of  the  general  features  of  the  bill,  and  shall  make 
no  attempt  to  state  any  of  the  reasons  or  considerations  which  in- 


EDWARD    KIBLER.  I  89 


fluenced  the  Commission  in  the  adoption  of  any  of  its  provisions, 
nor  even  indicate  the  particulars  in  which  the  revised  code  dififers 
from  the  present  code  of  the  State. 

The  scope  of  the  work  embraces  a  revision  of  the  following  sub- 
jects, to  wit:  The  organization  of  municipal  corporations;  legisla- 
tive department;  executive  officers;  police  department;  depart- 
ment of  health;  improvements,  appropriation  of  property,  assess- 
ments; property  of  the  corporation,  dedication,  rights  of  the  pub- 
lic and  property  owners,  and  agencies  of  convenience  and  neces- 
sity; finance  and  taxation  and  municipal  elections. 

Four  cardinal  ideas  or  principles  have  controlled  the  commis- 
sion in  the  preparation  of  this  bill,  viz. : 

First. — The  abolition  of  all  city  classification,  the  division  of  all 
municipal  corporations  into  cities  and  villages,  the  placing  of  all 
municipal  corporations  under  the  legislative  control  of  the  Coun- 
cil rather  than  the  General  Assembly,  the  prohibition  of  all  special 
legislation  for  cities  and  villages;  in  other  words,  home  rule  or  lo- 
cal self-government,  under  a  liberal  grant  of  governmental 
powers. 

Second. — The  total  separation  of  legislative  and  administrative 
functions;  all  legislative  power  to  be  lodged  with  the  Council,  and 
all  administrative  duties  imposed  upon  the  executive  department, 
and  the  adoption  of  the  federal  plan  of  municipal  government  with 
the  Mayor,  the  responsible  head  of  the  administrative  department. 
Third. — A  comprehensive  merit  or  civil  service  system  for  the 
filling  of  all  subordinate  offices,  and 

Fourth. — ^The  nomination  and  election  of  all  elective  municipal 
officers,  including  members  of  the  Board  of  Education,  upon  a 
non-partisan  ballot. 

Under  the  first  Constitution  of  Ohio,  1802,  each  town  was  in- 
corporated by  a  special  act  of  the  Legislature.  This  created  such 
diversity  in  the  form  and  powers  of  municipal  corporations  that 
the  evil  was  sought  to  be  corrected  in  the  Constitution  of  1850, 
by  the  requirement  that  the  General  Assembly  should  provide  for 
the  organization  of  cities  and  villages  by  general  laws,  and  that  all 
laws  of  a  general  nature  should  have  a  uniform  operation  through- 
out the  State.  It  seems  perfectly  obvious  that  the  intention  of 
the  Constitutional  Convention  in  the  adoption  of  these  provisions 


190  THE    OHIO    MUNICIPAL    CODE    COMMISSION. 

was  to  abolish  all  special  legislation  for  cities  and  villages,  and  to 
make  them,  so  far  as  their  powers  and  the  form  of  their  govern- 
ment are  concerned,  as  nearly  uniform  as  general  legislation  could 
accomplish  these  purposes.  In  other  words,  that  there  should  be. 
no  classes  or  special  charters  for  municipal  corporations,  except 
the  classes  mentioned  in  the  Constitution,  viz.,  cities  and  villages. 

Since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  1850,  the  division  and 
subdivision  of  municipal  corporations  has  gone  on  until  at  present 
there  are  fifteen  distinct  classes  of  municipal  corporations  in  Ohio, 
viz.,  four  grades  of  first-class  cities,  eight  of  second-class  cities,  two 
classes  of  incorporated  villages  and  hamlets,  with  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment to  a  greater  or  less  extent  special  for  each  class.  In  ten 
of  these  classes  there  is  but  a  single  city  in  each  class,  and  under 
the  holdings  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  notwithstanding 
the  provisions  oi  the  Constitution,  the  right  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly is  firmly  established  to  legislate  specially  for  each  city  and  vil- 
lage in  Ohio,  the  only  requirement  being  that  they  shall  adhere  to 
that  cherished  legal  fiction  of  creating  a  special  class  for  each  mu- 
nicipal corporation  and  then  legislating  for  the  class;  so  that  it 
will  appear,  that  in  all  these  years  since  1850,  Ohio,  under  the  li- 
cense of  its  Supreme  Court,  has  been  traveling  in  a  circle  and  we 
are  in  practical  efifect  back  to  where  we  were  before  the  present 
Constitution,  to  the  era  of  special  charters. 

Latterly  our  Supreme  Court  has  expressed  great  dissatisfaction 
with  its  earlier  decisions  sanctioning  municipal  classes  under  the 
present  Constitution,  and  has  shown  a  disposition  to  welcome  any 
legislation  which  will  enable  us  to^  get  back  to  those  wholesome 
provisions. 

The  Commission  has,  therefore,  provided  that  municipal  cor- 
porations in  Ohio  shall  be  divided  into  cities  and  villages,  with 
no  other  division  of  them  intoi  sub-divisions  or  grades.  One  of 
the  inevitable  consequences  of  the  prohibition  of  city  classifica- 
tion will  be  the  conferring  upon  the  municipality  of  the  largest 
measure  of  self-government,  and  the  prohibition  of  all  special 
legislation  and  legislative  interference  with  the  details  of  municipal 
government.  It  is  obvious,  from  the  history  of  municipal  classi- 
fication in  Ohio,  that  it  is  merely  the  vehicle  or  means  of  special 
legislation  for  the  evasion  of  the  Constitution,  and  that  the  aboli- 


EDWARD    KIBLER.  I9I 


tion  of  municipal  classes  must  necessarily  result  in  the  abol- 
tion  of  legislative  interference,  and  what  seems  to  be  a  mountain 
of  difficulties  in  the  path  of  the  abolition  of  city  classes  disappears 
the  moment  we  properly  discriminate  between  the  true  functions 
of  the  State  Legislature  and  of  the  City  Council  in  municipal  af- 
fairs. 

The  act  creating  the  Commission  requires  that  there  shall  be  a 
separation  of  the  legislative  and  executive  powers  of  the  officers 
of  municipal  corporations.  Under  the  general  municipal  statutes, 
now  in  force  in  Ohio,  the  duties  of  City  Councils  are  more  largely 
administrative  than  legislative  in  their  character,  while  in  much  of 
the  special  legislation  applicable  to  particular  cities,  especially  the 
larger  cities,  the  city  officer  vies  with  the  City  Councilman  in  legis- 
lative duties.  Under  the  revised  code  the  duties  of  the  Council 
are  purely  and  strictly  legislative.  The  Council  in  cities  consists 
of  seven  members,  three  of  whom  are  elected  at  large  and  of  the 
remaining  four  one  is  elected  from  each  of  four  councilmanic  dis- 
tricts into  which  the  city  is  to  be  divided,  and  one  of  the  three 
Councilmen-at-large  is  nominated  and  elected  as  the  president  of 
the  Council,  who  is  required  to  serve  as  Mayor  in  case  of  a  va- 
cancy in  that  office.  All  elective  officers  to  serve  for  two  years, 
except  the  judge  of  the  police  court.  All  Councilmen  are  to  re- 
ceive an  annual  salary  and  are  required  to  execute  a  bond  for  the 
faithful  discharge  of  their  duties,  upon  which  bond  they  shall  be 
liable  for  the  illegal  expenditure  of  all  money  voted  against  the 
advice  of  the  Director  of  Law.  In  villages  the  Council  consists  of 
six  members,  elected  at  large,  to  receive  no  salary. 

All  administrative  duties  are  performed  by  the  officers  of  the  ex- 
ecutive department,  which  consists  of  the  Mayor  and  four  directors 
appointed  by  the  Mayor,  without  confirmation  by  the  Council,  and 
under  the  control  of  the  Mayor,  each  director  has  exclusive  au- 
thority in  his  separate  department,  and  he  may  be  removed  by  the 
Mayor  at  will,  the  reason  for  such  action  to  be  stated  to  the  Coun- 
cil in  writing.  The  only  officers  elected  by  the  people  are  the 
Mayor,  Treasurer,  members  and  president  of  Council,  members  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  Police  Judge  and  clerk  of  the  police  court. 

The  Governor  of  the  State  has  power  to  remove  the  Mayor  from 
office  upon  notice  and  after  a  full  and  fair  opportunity  has  been 


192  THE    OHIO    MUNICIPAL    CODE    COMMISSION. 

given  him  to  be  heard  in  his  defense,  for  misconduct  in  office,  in- 
competence, gross  neglect  of  duty,  gross  immorality  or  habitual 
drunkenness.  The  Mayor's  right  of  veto  extends  to  the  fixing 
of  the  salary  and  bond  of  any  officer,  the  expenditure  of  money, 
the  approval  of  a  contract  for  the  payment  of  money,  or  for  the 
purchase,  sale  or  lease  or  transfer  of  property,  or  creating  a  right 
or  levying  any  tax  or  imposing  any  fine,  penalty  or  forfeiture. 

The  four  principal  departments  are  as  follows: 

Department  of  Accounts. — The  Director  of  Accounts  is  given 
supervision  and  control  of  all  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  city.  It  is 
his  duty  to  keep  a  full  set  of  books,  exhibiting  statements  of  all 
moneys  received  and  expended  and  of  all  property  owned  by  the 
city  and  the  income  derived  therefrom;  to  keep  an  accurate  ac- 
count of  all  taxes  and  assessments  and  of  each  appropriation 
made  by  the  Council,  and,  generally,  of  all  assets  and  liabilities  of 
the  city.  At  the  end  of  each  fiscal  year  he  is  required  to  examine 
and  audit  the  accounts  of  the  several  departments  and  officers, 
and  prescribe  the  form  of  accounts  and  reports  to  be  rendered  to 
his  department,  and  the  method  of  keeping  accounts  of  all  the 
departments.  All  departments  are  required  to  report  to  the  Direc- 
tor of  Accounts.  No  warrant  for  the  payment  of  any  claim  can  be 
issued  by  the  Director  of  Accounts  until  the  claim  shall 
have  been  approved  by  the  head  of  the  appropriate  de- 
partment, and  he  may  require  evidence  to  be  pre- 
sented to  him  as  to  the  justness  and  legality  of  any  claim  presented 
for  payment.  He  is  required  to  make  a  yearly  report  to  the 
Mayor  and  Auditor  of  State  of  the  financial  transactions  and  re- 
sources of  the  city,  the  receipts  from  all  sources  and  expenditures 
for  all  purposes,  together  with  a  statement  of  the  debt  of  the  city, 
and  the  purposes  for  which  such  debt  has  been  incurred,  in  ac- 
cordance with  forms  and  methods  to  be  prescribed  by  the  Auditor 
of  State,  who  is  empowered  to  examine  into  the  affairs  of  the  finan- 
cial department  of  any  city  of  the  State,  and  as  to  the  financial  con- 
dition and  resources,  whether  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution 
and  laws  have  been  complied  with  and  as  to  the  method  and  ac- 
curacy of  the  city's  accounts.  The  Director  of  Accounts  is  also  re- 
quired to  keep  accounts  which  will  show,  as  to  each  franchise 
granted  by  the  city  which  renders  a  service  paid  for  by  the  users 


EDWARD    KIBLER.  1 93 


thereof,  the  cost  of  the  construction,  maintenance  and  operation  of 
the  service,  the  annual  collection  from  users,  and  the  character 
and  extent  of  the  service  rendered  and  the  amount  collected  by 
g"eneral  taxation  for  the  service  rendered  to  the  city  and  the  char- 
acter and  extent  thereof. 

Department  of  Law. — The  Director  of  Law  has  the  same  duties 
which  usually  attach  to  the  office  of  Corporation  Counsel  or  City 
Solicitor,  and  in  addition  is  required  to  apply  in  the  name  of  the 
corporation  for  an  injunction  to  restrain  the  misapplication  of 
funds,  the  abuse  of  corporate  powers  or  the  performance  of  any 
contract  made  by  the  city  in  contravention  of  law,  or  which  was 
procured  by  fraud  or  corruption.  He  is  required  to  apply  for  the 
forfeiture  or  specific  performance  of  any  obligation  or  contract 
made  on  behalf  of  the  city,  granting  a  right  or  easement  or  cre- 
ating a  public  duty  where  the  same  is  being  evaded  or  violated.  In 
case  any  officer  fails  to  perform  any  duty  ordered  by  law,  he  is  re- 
quired to  compel  the  performance  of  the  duty  by  a  writ  of  man- 
damus. 

It  is  also  made  the  duty  of  the  Director  of  Law,  whenever  in- 
structed by  resolution  of  the  Council,  to  apply  in  the  name  of  the 
city  to  the  court,  for  the  appointment  of  a  receiver  to  take  charge 
of  all  property  and  operate  the  same,  of  any  corporation  which  is 
required  to  render  any  public  service  under  any  right  or  franchise 
granted  by  the  city,  whenever  in  the  opinion  of  the  court  the 
corporation  owning  the  franchise  fails,  for  any  reason,  to  furnish 
the  service  to  the  public  required  of  it  by  the  terms  of  the  fran- 
chise, and  that  in  such  case  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  court  to 
appoint  such  receiver  and  require  him  to  operate  the  franchise 
and  furnish  such  public  service  under  the  orders  of  the  court 
until  such  time  as  it  shall  be  made  to  appear  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  court  that  such  corporation  is  able  to  and  will  render  the 
public  service  required  of  it  by  such  franchise. 

Department  of  Public  Safety. — The  Director  of  Public  Safety 
has  jurisdiction  over  the  police  force,  its  officers,  employes  and 
property  connected  therewith;  sealing  of  weights  and  measures; 
city  scales  and  markets;  inspection  of  food;  the  public  health;  fire 
force  of  the  city  and  officers,  employes  and  property  connected 
therewith;  inspection  of  buildings,  boilers,  elevators  and  fire-es- 


194  THE   OHIO    MUNICIPAL   CODE    COMMISSION. 

capes;  work-houses,  houses  of  refuge  and  correction;  cemeteries, 
infirmaries,  and  all  charitable  and  penal  institutions.  The  Coun- 
cil may,  by  ordinance,  provide  for  a  superintendent  of  police  and  a 
police  departmnt;  a  superintendent  of  fire  and  a  fire  department, 
and  a  superintendent  of  health  and  charity. 

Department  of  Public  Improvements. — The  Director  of  Public 
Improvements  has  charge  of  the  administration  of  the  water- 
works, care  of  streets,  construction  and  care  of  public  buildings, 
sewers,  drainage,  making  and  preserving  all  maps  and  surveys, 
general  supervision  of  the  highways,  pubhc  places,  street  lighting, 
public  buildings;  and  the  Council  may  provide  by  ordinance  for  a 
superintendent  of  water-works  to  have  charge  of  that  department, 
superintendent  of  streets  in  the  street  department,  chief  civil  en- 
gineer, who  shall  have  charge  of  street  improvements,  and  a  su- 
perintendent of  parks,  who  shall  have  charge  of  the  public 
grounds. 

Under  the  merit  system  or  civil  service  provision,  the  Mayor  has 
the  right  to  remove  any  officer  in  the  administrative  service  of  the 
city  appointed  under  the  provisions  of  the  law,  with  no  other  re- 
strictions than  that  he  must  assign  the  reason  for  the  removal. 
The  bill  provides  that  the  Governor  shall  appoint  three  persons 
to  be  merit  system  commissioners,  who  may  be  removed  for  in- 
competency, neglect  of  duty,  malfeasance  in  office,  habitual  drunk- 
enness, gross  immorality,  with  the  provision  that  any  manifest 
failure  on  the  part  of  any  Commissioner  to  enforce  the  provisions 
of  the  law  according  to  its  true  intent  and  purpose  shall  be  deemed 
incompetence.  It  requires  the  classification  of  all  offices  and  places 
of  appointment  and  employment  in  each  city,  into  a  classified  list, 
exempting  from  the  operation  of  the  act  officers  elected  by  the 
people.  Judges  and  Clerks  of  election,  members  of  the  Boards  of 
Education,  superintendents  and  teachers  in  the  public  schools,  the 
heads  of  the  four  principal  departments  of  the  city,  and  members 
of  the  law  department;  it  provides  a  method  of  examination  in 
each  city,  under  the  supervision  of  the  Commission,  of  all  appH- 
cants  for  office  or  place,  which  shall  be  practical  in  its  character 
and  shall  relate  to  those  matters  which  shall  fairly  test  the  relative 
capacity  of  the  applicants  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  position 
and  may  include  test  of  physical  qualifications  and  health,  and 


EDWARD    KIBLER.  I95 


when  appropriate,  of  manual  skill;  that  in  all  cases  where  it  is 
practicable,  vacancies  shall  be  filled  by  promotion;  when  a  posi- 
tion or  place  is  to  be  filled,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Commission  to 
certify  to  the  head  of  the  department  or  appointing  officer  the 
name  and  address  of  the  candidate  standing-  highest  on  the  register 
for  the  class  or  grade  to  which  said  position  belongs,  except  that 
laborers  may  be  selected  by  lot  or  by  an  examination  which  shall 
relate  to  their  capacity  for  labor,  their  habits  of  industry  and  so- 
briety and  the  necessities  of  themselves  and  families.  The  Com- 
mission is  required  to  appoint  a  chief  examiner,  whose  duty  it 
shall  be,  under  the  direction  of  the  Commissoin,  to  superintend  all 
examinations  held  in  each  city.  The  bill  provides  appropriate 
penalties  for  the  bribery  of  the  Commission,  for  the  solicitation  of 
political  contribution,  payment  of  political  assessments,  abuse  of 
official  or  political  influence,  and  forbids  the  payment  of  any  sal- 
aries or  wages  to  any  person  for  services  as  an  officer  or  employe 
of  any  city  unless  such  person  is  occupying  an  office  or  place  ac- 
cording to  the  provisions  of  the  merit  system  law. 

The  commission  will  recommend  that  the  nomination  of  all  can- 
didates for  officers  elected  by  the  people,  including  members  of 
the  board  of  education,  shall  be  by  written  petition,  signed  by  not 
less  than  ten  electors,  and  filed  with  the  deputy  State  Superviser 
of  elections,  between  the  first  Monday  of  January  and  the  first 
Monday  of  February,  preceding  the  general  municipal  election  oc- 
curring on  the  first  Monday  of  April  of  each  year.  All  petitions 
shall  be  written  and  signed  with  ink  by  each  petitioner  in  person, 
and  shall  state  the  full  name,  place  of  residence,  and  occupation, 
if  any,  of  the  person  placed  in  nomination,  the  name  of  the  office 
for  which  he  is  nominated,  one  of  the  petitioners  to  each  separate 
nomination  petition  being  required  to  make  affidavit  that  the 
names  to  the  petition  are  genuine,  that  each  was  signed  by  the 
petitioners  in  person  and  that  the  statements  made  in  the  petition 
are  true. 

It  requires  that  the  names  of  the  persons  so  nominated  shall  be 
placed  upon  the  official  ballot,  unless  such  nominee  shall  die, 
remove  his  residence,  or  decline  the  nomination.  Any  declination 
shall  be  in  writing,  signed  by  the  nominee,  and  filed  on  or  before 
five  days  before  election  day.     The  bill  forbids,  under  a  penalty 


196  THE    OHIO    MUNICIPAL   CODE   COMMISSION. 

of  fine  and  imprisonment,  the  nomination  by  any  voluntan-  polit- 
ical association  or  party,  of  any  candidate  for  any  municipal  office, 
or  the  indorsement  of  any  nominee  previous  to  the  first  Monday  in 
February,  and  requires  that  the  names  of  all  nominees  shall  be 
printed  in  a  single  column  upon  the  ballot  under  the  title  or  name 
of  the  office,  without  any  other  designation  whatever,  and  the 
names  of  the  candidats  for  each  office  shall  be  printed  alphabet- 
ically upon  the  ballot  in  such  rotation  that  the  name  of  each  candi- 
date for  each  ofiice  shall  be  printed  first,  upon  an  equal  number  of 
ballots  used,  at  the  election,  and  the  ballots  shall  be  so  bound  into 
books  or  blocks  that  the  name  of  each  candidate  for  each  office 
shall  rotate  consecutively  as  the  first  name  thereon  under  the  title 
of  the  office. 

Concerning  the  schools  of  the  cities  of  the  State,  the  Commis- 
sion has  determined  to  limit  the  number  of  members  of  the  board 
of  education  to  seven,  require  their  nomination  and  election  by 
the  electors-at-large,  upon  a  non-partisan  ballot;  requiring  the  se- 
lection and  promotion  of  all  teachers  to  be  made  by  the  Superin- 
tendent of  the  schools,  subject  to  confirmation  by  the  board  of 
education,  and  the  establishment  of  a  pension  to  be  paid  to  teach- 
ers upon  their  retirement  after  twenty-five  years'  continuous  ser- 
vice. 

Among  the  miscellaneous  provisions  of  the  bill  may  be  men- 
tioned the  requirement  that  before  any  suit  can  be  brought  against 
the  city  for  damages  for  personal  injuries  occurring  in  any  street 
or  public  place,  a  claim  shall  be  presented  to  the  Mayor  or  City 
Council  within  thirty  days  after  the  happening  of  the  injury,  stat- 
ing when,  where  and  how  the  injury  occurred  and  the  extent 
thereof;  that  all  City  Councils  are  required  to  provide  by  general 
ordinance  that  all  encroachments  upon  streets  or  alleys  by  cellar 
ways,  area-ways,  railings,  stairway  steps,  balconies,  etc.,  appurte- 
nant to  buildings,  shall  pay  into  the  general  fund  of  the  city 
a  reasonable  rental  for  such  use;  that  municipal  corporations  hav- 
ing over  three  thousand  inhabitants  shall  constitute  cities,  those 
having  less  than  three  thousand  inhabitants  villages;  that  all  or- 
dinances granting  franchises,  or  for  the  ownership  and  operation 
of  public  utilities  shall  require  for  their  validity  a  popular  ratify- 
ing vote;  that  all  franchises  be  limited  to  twenty-one  years,  and 


EDWARD    KIBLER.  19/ 


by  their  terms  shall  reserve  to  the  city  the  right  of  purchase  upon 
a  valuation  exclusive  of  good  will,  value  of  franchise  or  any  value 
based  on  earning  power;  that  no  franchise  be  renewed  unless 
within  eighteen  months  of  its  expiration;  that  no  City  shall  be- 
come indebted  for  any  purpose  beyond  five  per  centum  of  the  val- 
uation of  the  taxable  property  exclusive  of  bonds  issued  in  antici- 
pation of  taxes  or  assessments,  or  for  the  purpose  of  constructing, 
erecting  or  providing  any  public  service  to  be  owned  and  operated 
by  the  city,  which  shall  permanently  produce  a  revenue;  that  the 
maximum  maturity  of  municipal  bonds  be  twenty  years;  that  all 
special  assessments  for  improvements  be  made  upon  the  basis  of 
the  benefits  conferred  upon  the  property  in  accordance  with  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  case 
of  Norwood  vs.  Baker,  and  before  such  amounts  are  assessed 
against  property,  the  validity  of  the  assessment  and  its  amount 
shall  be  determined  by  the  Probate  Court  in  a  proceeding  insti- 
tuted by  the  city  for  that  purpose;  that  Cities,  when  authorized  by 
a  vote  of  the  electors,  may  own  and  operate  gas  works,  water 
works,  electric  light,  telephone,  and  when  authorized  by  a  vote  of 
the  people,  Cities  having  a  population  of  fifty  thousand  or  over, 
may  own  and  operate  street  railways. 

Among  the  additional  powers  granted  to  cities  and  villages  to 
be  exercised  at  the  option  of  the  City  Council  are  the  following: 

To  determine  the  location  of  and  to  regulate,  restrain  or  sup- 
press houses  of  ill-fame. 

To  authorize  the  destruction  of  machines  used  for  winning  or 
losing  money. 

To  raise  or  lower  grade  grossings  at  the  equal  expense  of  the 
municipality  and  the  railroad  company. 

To  erect  public  bath  houses. 

To  regulate  the  erection  and  height  of  buildings,  partition 
fences  and  party  walls. 

To  regulate  the  moving  of  buildings  along  public  highways 
and  to  provide  for  the  payment  of  compensation  to  those  dam- 
aged. 

To  require  railroad  companies  to  keep  flagmen  and  maintain 
gates  at  railroad  crossings. 

To  provide  for  and  regulate  the  use  of  bicycle  paths. 


198  THE    OHIO    MUNICIPAL    CODE   COMMISSION. 

To  establish  and  maintain  a  public  municipal  employment  of- 
fice. 

To  require  officers  and  employes  to  pay  their  just  debts  in- 
curred for  necessaries  while  in  the  employ  of  the  city. 

The  bill  also  provides  that  before  the  bonds  of  any  municipal 
corporation  shall  be  negotiated  or  be  valid,  the  same  shall  be  sub- 
mitted to  the  Attorney-General  of  the  State,  together  with  certified 
copies  of  all  the  proceedings  relating  thereto  and  other  informa- 
tion affecting  the  validity  of  the  issue,  whereupon  it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  the  Attorney-General,  within  thirty  days,  to  examine  said 
proceedings  and  if  he  finds  such  bonds  are  valid  and  binding  ob- 
ligations upon  the  city,  he  shall  so  certify  in  writing  to  the  secre- 
tary of  State,  whosei,  duty  it  shall  be  tO)  register  said  bonds,  and 
certify  thereon  that  the  same  are  valid,  legal  and  binding  obliga- 
tions of  such  municipal  corporation,  and  thereupon  the  bonds 
shall  be  delivered  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  city,  to  be  sold  as  pro- 
vided by  law;  that  at  any'  time  before  said  bonds  shall  be  certified 
by  the  Secretary  of  State,  any  tax  payer  may  apply  for  an  injunc- 
tion to  restrain  the  Secretary  of  State  from  registering  or  certify- 
ing said  bonds,  and  that  when  such  bonds  have  been  so  certified 
and  sold,  they  shall  be  impervious  to  a  legal  attack  except  upon 
the  ground  of  forgery,  fraud,  exceeding  the  limit  of  indebtedness 
or  unconstitutionality. 

The  Commission  is  glad  to  submit  the  provisions  of  this  bill 
for  consideration  by  this  Convention,  and  will  welcome  any  sug- 
gestion or  criticism  which  may  tend  to  its  improvement.  The 
Commission  acknowledges  itself  indebted  to  the  League  for  its 
"Municipal  Program"  or  "Municipal  Corporation  Act,"  submitted 
to  tlie  Indianapolis  convention  by  the  Committee  on  Municipal 
Program.,  all  the  provisions  of  which  have  received  the  serious 
consideration  of  the  commission  and  many  of  them  adopted. 

The  commission  has  great  hope  that  an  aroused  public  senti- 
ment in  Ohio,  demanding  the  simplification  of  municipal  govern- 
ment, more  direct  responsibility  to  the  people  for  the  misconduct 
of  their  afifairs,  the  elimination  of  partisan  politics  from  municipal 
control,  and  the  establishment  of  merit  in  official  places  and  ten- 
ure, will  eventually  result  in  favorable  action  by  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  State. 


THE    WORK    OF    THE    OHIO    COMMISSION.  I99 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  OHIO  COMMISSION. 


Hon.  E.  J.  Blandin.  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


In  looking  over  the  evils  which  exist  in  the  municipalities  in 
Ohio,  as  ihis  league  has  been  doing  for  some  years  past,  and  cast- 
ing about  for  a  remedy  for  those  ills,  it  must  have  become  appar- 
ent to  the  gentlemen  who  have  given  it  consideration,  as  I  know 
you  have,  that  about  all,  in  the  last  resort,  which  you  can  offer  as 
a  panacea  for  these  ills  is  found  to  consist  in  a  plan  of  organization 
for  the  citirs  and  villages;  for  so  far  as  those  mischiefs  are  due  to 
the  passions  of  men,  or  the  greed  of  men,  or  the  lack  of  high  char- 
acter in  men,  either  as  public  officers  or  as  voters  for  public  offi- 
cers— very  little  can  be  done  for  that  except  by  the  higher  and  bet- 
ter education  of  the  people.  Looking  at  the  subject,  therefore, 
practically,  and  ccnceiving,  as  one  of  the  speakers  said  in  the  dis- 
cussion this  af'.ornoon,  that  one  of  the  established  principles  of  this 
country  is  democracy,  there  is  nothing  left  but  putting  it  in  the 
power  of  the  best  citizens  to  secure  good  government  by  exercising 
their  power  as  voters  and  thus  minimizing  as  much  as  pos- 
sible the  evils  which  obviously  grow  out  of  municipal  elections; 
and  what  is  done  in  that  direction  will  have  to  be  done  by  a  plan  of 
organization  for  cities. 

Of  course,  in  Ohio,  as  in  most  other  States,  it  is  true  that  there 
has  grown  up  a  horde  of  evils  from  indiscriminate  legislation  ap- 
plicable to  cities  cf  a  certain  class,  but  in  fact  applicable  to  a  par- 
ticular city,  so  that  the  government  was  removed  from  the  local 
officers  to  the  State  Legislature,  to  a  body  composed  of  members 
not  knowing  anything  about  such  cities  or  the  needs  of  such 
cities,  meeting  in  the  centres  of  the  various  States  and  enacting 
what  are  practically  the  municipal  ordinances  of  the  cities,  and 
as  a  rule,  witho-ut  request  from  any  one  having  the  interests  of  a 
city  at  heart. 


200  THE   WORK    OF    THE    OHIO    COMMISSION. 

To  get  rid  of  that  class  of  mischiefs,  of  course,  it  did  not  take 
any  one  who  gaye  the  subject  consideration  long  to  conclude  what 
was  the  first  thnig  to  be  done  to  .get  rid  of  them.  Looking  into 
the  constitution  of  Ohio,  we  found  it  provided  that  cities  and  vil- 
lages should  be  organized  by  general  laws  and  that  the  general 
law.s  should  be  uniform  throughout  the  State.  If  the  Legislature 
can  be  prevailed  upon  to  abolish  all  classification  of  cities,  the 
Supreme  Court  will  probably  stand  in  the  way  of  any  future  effort 
of  the  Legislature  to  pass  any  further  class  legislation  under  the 
guise  of  general  legislation.  When  once  we  have  the  cities  of  the 
State  organized  under  laws  uniform  in  all  the  cities,  if  thereafter 
it  is  desired  by  the  Legislature  to  make  any  change  whatever  in 
the  laws  applying  to  cities,  such  alterations  will  command  and 
receive  the  careful  consideration  of  every  member,  because  their 
constituents  at  home  will  be  interested  in  any  change  to  be  made. 

By  abolishing  classification  we  will  be  able  to  rid  the  cities  of 
Ohio  of  a  very  large  brood  of  evils  which  v/e  all  realize  exist.  But 
then  the  question  immediately  presents  itself:  What  shall  be  the 
form  of  organization?  Because  that  is  the  business  which  the 
constitution  of  Ohio  has  committed  to  the  Legislature,  giving  it  the 
power  to  provide  for  the  organization  of  cities  and  villages,  re- 
stricting their  pov>-er  to  incur  indebtedness,  etc. 

Sd  far  as  the  constitution  provides,  it  seems  to  intend  to  limit 
the  power  of  the  Legislature  upon  the  subject  to  organization,  to 
the  power  of  the  Legislature  upon  the  subject  of  organization,  to 
confine  its  powers  to  setting  up  the  skeleton  of  government,  and  to 
leave  it  to  the  government  of  each  of  these  cities  to  do  or  not  to  do 
the  particular  things  set  down  as  among  its  powers  whenever  in 
its  judgment  it  will  be  beneficial  to  the  local  interests  so  to  do. 

That  being  then  the  object  and  purpose  with  which  we  set  out, 
the  question  arises:  What  will  be  the  form  of  govern- 
ment of  cities?  And  I  suppose  it  has  long  since  passed  beyond  the 
region  of  debate  that  one  of  the  essentials  of  this  miniature  govern- 
ment would  be  what  is  recognized  as  a  fundamental  principle  in 
governmental  architecture — the  total  separation  of  the  executive 
and  legislative  functions.  With  the  adoption  of  that  proposition, 
all  boards  such  as  have  been  had  in  most  of  the  cities  of  the  coun- 
try disappear  at  once  and  a  body  is  constituted  to  exercise  the  leg- 


E,    J.    BLANDIN. 


20I 


islative  powers  of  the  cities.  Among:  other  questions  which  would 
aris>^.  with  respect  to  the  legislative  body  would  be  how  many 
chambers  it  should  be  composed  of,  one  or  two.  It  has  been  found 
by  experience,  I  think,  where  two  chambers  of  city  council  have 
been  tried,  that  instead  of  improvident  or  imprudent  proposed  leg- 
islation by  one  body,  being  checked  and  corrected  in  the  other,  that 
the  opposite  of  that  has  resulted.  The  first  body  will  say :  "If  there 
is  anything  wrong  about  this  we  need  not  give  it  very  critical  scru- 
tiny to  detect  it,  for  it  will  be  found  and  corrected  by  the  other 
body."  And  between  the  two,  bad  measures  skip  through  without 
the  attention  of  anybody.  Considering  the  nature,  the  character  of 
the  functions  of  a  legislative  body  for  a  city,  it  would  not  take 
long  to  conclude  that  one  body  would  be  more  ser\dceable,  would 
be  more  likely  to  be  prudent,  wise  in  action,  than  two,  and  cer- 
tainly much  less  cumbersome. 

Anotmr  consideration  would  be  that  the  more  bodies  there  are 
the  more  persons  we  must  have  to  compose  those  bodies,  and  a 
larger  number  of  legislators  in  municipalities  would  be  necessary. 
Under  our  system  of  popular  voting,  if  it  be  the  desire  to  elevate 
the  personnel  and  character  of  the  men  elected,  in  order  to  se- 
lect the  best  men  available  for  the  purpose,  the  number  of  men 
must  necessarily  be  reduced.  And  that  consideration,  carried  fur- 
ther, would  determine,  or  aid  in  determining,  how  numerous  the 
members  of  councils  should  be.  The  commission  at  last  reached 
the  conclusion  to  reduce  the  number  in  Ohio  cities,  large  and 
small,  in  Cincinnati,  Cleveland  and  smaller  cities,  to  seven.  To  my 
own  mind,  if  the  number  of  seven  had  been  reduced  still  further — 
reduced  to  five  or  three,  I  would  think  it  would  increase  their 
strength  rather  than  their  weakness — however,  no  one  can  have 
his  own  notion  entirely. 

These  are  partly  to  be  elected  by  districts  and  partly  at  large. 
This  would  be  a  compromise  of  views  of  the  people  on  this  sub- 
ject, that  of  local  and  general  representatives,  partly  gratifying 
each,  wholly  gratifying  neither.  Three  of  the  members  of  council 
are  elected  at  large  and  the  other  four  from  the  councilmanic  dis- 
tricts. My  own  opinion  would  be  that  three  and  those  elected  at 
large  would  be  better.    Still  I  think  the  arrangement  provided 


202  THE   WORK    OF    THE    OHIO    COMMISSION. 

by  the  commission  in  Ohio  for  seven  to  be  elected  in  the  manner 
they  have  provided  is  quite  acceptable  indeed. 

Having  provided  for  the  legislative  department  of  the  city,  there 
is  nothing  left  except  the  executive  part  of  the  city  government. 
1  think  all  experience  has  shown  that  the  administrative  function 
is  best  contined  to  a  single  head,  a  single  hand.  An  aggregate 
body,  composed  of  three,  five,  seven  or  more  persons,  as  an  execu- 
tive body,  is  necessarily  a  failure.  An  aggregate  body  can  act  only 
by  the  will  of  Lhe  majority.  There  is  nothing  for  the  executive  to 
do,  when  the  will  is  expressed  by  the  legislative  body,  but 
put  it  into  effect;  and  making  the  mayor  the  chief  executive 
officer  of  the  city,  with  power  to  call  about  him  the  heads  of  va- 
rious departments  to  transact  the  city's  business,  with  power  to  re- 
move or  appoint  them  without  anybody's  confirmation,  will  ena- 
ble the  people  to  hold  the  mayor  directly,  specifically  responsible 
for  the  proper  administration  of  his  department.  This  will  give 
back  to  the  people  a  simple  form  of  government  whereby  they  may 
coiicentrate  their  votes  upon  a  man  to  be  the  single,  sole  admin- 
istrator of  the  laws  of  the  city;  and  if  the  administration  is  unsat- 
isfactory to  the  people  they  will  not  be  compelled  to  go  to  the  polls 
to  defeat  the  men  at  the  head  of  the  different  departments,  and  thus 
take  several  years  to  get  all  the  men  out,  but  at  once  they  may  dis- 
place the  head  of  the  entire  municipal  government  if  they  think  his 
displacement  is  required  by  the  best  interests  of  the  city.  It  puts 
that  additional  power  into  the  voters'  hands,  and  the  intelligent, 
thinking  voter  constitutes  the  power  among  all  the  voters,  acting 
as  a  rule  and  guide  to  the  less  intelligent  voters.  Substract  those 
who  bhndly  follow  a  leader,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  politicians  on 
the  other,  and  the  intelligent  people  between  will  reach  out  and  de- 
feat an  improjK-r  mayor  and  so  change  and  correct  the  entire  ad- 
ministration of  affairs  of  a  city. 

That  is  the  scheme  or  plan  brought  here  by  the  commission,  pre- 
ceded by  r.n  act  of  the  General  Assembly  authorizing  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  commission.  Having  very  carefully  considered  the 
subject  for  several  years,  and  recognizing  the  improbability  of  the 
General  Assembly  ever  being  able  to  solve  the  difficulties  of  thest- 
municipalities,  the  State  Board  of  Commerce  thought  they  would 
be  best  solves  by  the  Governor  appointing  a  commission  to  study 


E.    J.    BLANDIN.  203 

the  question,  codify  the  laws  and  put  it  into  the  hands  of  the  Leg- 
islature for  their  consideration  and  adoption. 

Comrriissioner  Kibler  has  asked  for  any  suggestions  or  criti- 
cisms which  might  improve  the  bill.  Generally,  so  far  as  I  have 
had  time  to  examine  it,  I  approve  it.  There  are  some  minor 
changes  as  to  details  I  would  like  to  suggest  with  the  hope  that  it 
may  call  out  observations  from-  others  of  you,  and  that  the  com- 
mission may  also  be  good  enough  to  give  it  consideration,  and 
one  is,  I  think,  of  quite  considerable  importance. 

The  important  point  to  be  secured  by  this  legislation 
is  the  abolition  of  the  classification  of  cities  in  Ohio.  That  has  been 
substantially  accomplished  by  the  form  of  the  bill  as  it  now  is,  but 
not  quite.  There  are  one  or  two  particulars  in  which  I  hope  it  may 
be  found  wise  and  expedient  by  the  commission  yet  to  correct  it 
before  submitting  it  to  the  Legislature  for  action.  One  is  con- 
ferring upon  municipalities  the  power  to  own  and  operate  street 
railroads,  which  is  limited  to  cities  of  over  fifty  thousand  people. 
I  would  like  to  have  that  limit  excluded.  It  appears  to  be  a  sem- 
blance as  yet  dwelling  in  the  law,  of  the  classification  of  cities.  I 
would  like  to  see  that  entirely  destroyed  in  this  bill.  I  would  like 
to  see  Ohio  submit  to  the  world  what  I  know  laymen  have  thought 
practically  impossible,  but  which  I  think  has  never  troubled  the 
lawyers  so  much ;  that  is  that  we  can  have  the  same  form  of  gov- 
ernment for  a  large  city  like  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Chicago, 
as  for  a  small  city  of  eight  or  ten  thousand  population ;  the  same 
government  for  a  city  located  on  the  lake,  as  Cleveland,  or  on  the 
Ohio  River,  as  Cincinnati,  or  an  inland  city,  as  Columbus.  But 
this  difficulty  will  disappear  when  a  little  consideration  is  given 
to  the  subject.  It  is  not  the  form  of  government  that  needs  to  be 
changed,  either  with  the  locality,  the  topography  of  the  city  or  the 
population;  it  is  only  necessary  that  the  machinery  of  the  govern- 
ment become  more  complex  with  the  growth  of  the  city.  We  want 
more  elaborate  machinery  to  carry  on  more  complex  business. 

This  law,  when  once  properly  enacted,  will  stand  like  the  laws 
for  the  descent  and  distribution  of  property  in  Ohio,  not  changed 
from  one  decade  to  another. 

Another  matter  is  the  limitation  of  the  tax  rate,  varynng  in  cities 
of  differing  population.    I  do  not  myself  see  very  much  practical 


204  THE    WORK    OF    THE    OHIO    COMMISSION, 

harm  to  come  from  the  fact  of  these  provisions  in  the  bill,  except 
this,  that  they  may  furnish  pretexts  for  some  other  classification 
in  the  future  by  the  General  Assembly,  which  I  would  like  to  see 
made  impossible. 

There  is  one  other  matter  of  classification  which  I  would  like 
to  suggest  be  changed,  and  that  is  the  manner  of  determining  the 
differentiation  of  a  village  from  a  city.  That  is  put  again  upon  the 
basis  of  population.  It  is  a  village  with  a  population  under  three 
thousand,  and  beyond  three  thousand  it  becomes  a  city  and  takes 
on  the  form  and  characteristics  of  city  government.  I  shall  be 
glad  if  the  commission  can  see  its  way  clear,  before  it  submits  this, 
to  modify  that,  so  that  nowhere  will  there  be  any  need  of  count- 
ing the  heads  in  a  place  to  determine  anything  whatever  about  its 
form  of  government. 

The  reason  we  have  different  government  for  a  city  than  for  a 
^^llage  is,  as  I  said,  the  difference  in  the  business  to  be  done.  The 
business  of  the  village  is  of  a  simple  form.  The  complex  business 
of  a  city  requires  more  complex  government.  When  the  village, 
by  action  of  its  council,  shall  have  added  the  departments  of  city 
government,  erected  waterworks,  or  what  not — I  do  not  undertake 
to  say  what  they  shall  be — when  they  have  added  these  depart- 
ments, making  necessary  a  more  complex  form  of  government, 
then  that  should  determine  the  passing  of  the  village  into  the  other 
class  of  cities,  without  reference  to  the  population  in  the  village. 
This  seems  practical  and  logical;  and  I  shall  be  glad  if  this  bill, 
when  it  is  adopted  by  the  General  Assembly,  will  be  an  example  of 
uniform  organization  for  cities  and  villages  throughout  the  State 
of  Ohio,  without  any  sort  of  classification  based  upon  population 
at  all,  but  shall  be  uniform  for  cities  throughout  the  State  and  uni- 
form for  villages  throughout  the  State,  and  the  line  between  vil- 
lages and  cities  shall  not  be  allowed  to  depend  upon  the  number  of 
the  population. 

I  very  much  hope  that  when  this  bill  is  presented  to  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  it  will  be  adopted.  I  shall  give  it  my  hearty  com- 
mendation. The  members  of  the  legal  profession  are  looking  with 
great  favor  upon  the  bill.  They  have  had  so  much  experience  with 
this  vicious,  very  vicious  special  legislation  for  so  many  years  in 
Ohio,  unconstitutional  as  ven,-  many  lawyers  have  always  believed. 


E.    J.    BLANDIN.  205 

that  they  will  hail  with  delight  the  bill  about  to  be  presented  by 
which  we  shall  get  rid  of  this  classification.  And  I  think  the  mem- 
bers of  the  legal  profession  will  be  of  great  assistance  in  passing 
this  bill  through  the  General  Assembly  where  we  expect  to  meet 
the  breakers. 

I  know,  however,  that  in  the  general  make-up  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, there  are  so  many  diverse  views  about  this  and  that  and 
the  other  subject,  that  I  should  be  glad  if  the  commission  would 
find  it  expedient  to  present  the  bill  for  the  organization  of  cities 
and  villages  without  classification  in  a  separate  measure  from  the 
other.  Without  intending  in  the  slightest  degree  to  detract  from 
the  merit  of  the  other  matters  incorporated  in  the  bill,  I  offer  the 
suggestion  that  the  passage  of  the  measure  would  be  more  easily 
and  certainly  secured  if  these  were  presented  as  separate  and  inde- 
pendent matters;  the  others  presented  as  separate  bills  applicable 
to  all  cities. 

Suppose,  for  example,  the  merit  system  to  be  the  stumbling 
block  because  of  which  some  members  of  the  General  Assembly 
should  refuse  to  support  the  entire  bill,  then  the  uniform  organi- 
zation of  cities  would  go  down  because  these  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  would  be  unwilling  to  adopt  the  merit  system.  So 
I  would  suggest  whether  is  it  not  wiser  to  get  the  uniform  organ- 
ization first — a  thing  to  which  very  few,  I  think,  will  have  ob- 
jection— and  get  the  merit  system  afterwards. 

The  same  suggestion  might  be  made  with  reference  to  the  non- 
partisan election  and  municipal  ownership  of  franchises.  If  they 
could  be  presented  by  themselves  and  stand  or  fall  in  the  General 
Assembly  upon  their  own  merits,  all  right;  if  we  get  through  the 
organization  of  all  cities  and  villages  in  Ohio  free  from  all  classi- 
fication, we  would  have  made  a  very  great  advance. 

There  may  be  others  who  see  less  grounds  for  apprehension  for 
the  passage  of  the  whole  bill,  and  there  would  be  no  one  happier 
to  see  the  whole  bill  go  through  than  myself,  and  I  do  not  mean  to 
intimate  there  is  any  danger;  but  I  desire  to  see  the  plan  of  uni- 
form organization  become  a  law  for  the  State  whatever  might 
happen  to  the  other  matters. 

Now,  I  have  merely  thrown  out  these  suggestions  in  the  hope 
that  they  will  elicit  discussion  from  others  upon  the  various  points 


206  THE   WORK    OF   THE    OHIO    COMMISSION. 


and  that  as  a  result  we  may  get  increased  impetus  in  the  direction 
of  securing  ultimately  the  adoption  of  the  uniform  organization  of 
cities  in  the  State.  It  will  certainly  be  a  great  reform  in  municipal 
government  in  Ohio  if  we  can  secure  the  adoption  of  this  bill.  It 
will  certainly  mark  a  great  advance  and  a  great  reform,  and  we 
can  proceed  to  make  such  amendments  in  the  future  as  are  sug- 
gested by  experience.  But  it  is  all  important  in  the  first  place  to 
make  the  start,  and  so  I  feel  willing  to  sacrifice  every  other  fea- 
ture and  start  alone  with  uniform  organization  for  all  cities  in  the 
State,  with  the  legislative  and  executive  functions  separated,  and 
have  abolished  all  the  classifications  except  that  of  villages  and 
cities. 


PUBLIC    SERVICE    CORPORATION    QUESTION.  20/ 


STATUS   OF  THE    PUBLIC   SERVICE   CORPORA- 
TION  QUESTION. 


Harry  A.  Garfield,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


The  relation  between  municipalities  and  public  service  corpora- 
tions has  been  the  theme  of  countless  addresses  and  debates,  in- 
spired by  the  growth  of  cities  and  the  discovery  of  new  forces 
crowding  upon  an  age  already  signalized  for  its  scientlttc  attain- 
ment and  material  progress.  But  just  as  it  is  difficult  to  perceive 
the  true  relations  of  objects  set  so  near  the  observer  as  to  destroy 
perspective,  so  is  it  most  difficult  to  reach  satisfactory  conclusions 
as  to  the  proper  relation  of  these  corporations  to  the  municipality, 
living  as  we  are  in  the  midst  of  their  development,  and  in  the  ex- 
pectation of  a  progress  so  amazing  as  to  render  almost  useless  the 
prognostications  of  even  the  best  informed  men  as  to  the  future, 
size  and  importance  of  the  question. 

But  there  are  some  facts  which  we  can  lay  hold  of,  and  which 
must  form  a  necessary  part  of  the  data  for  any  consideration  given 
to  the  subject.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  stated,  and  indeed  it  is  ac- 
knowledged by  parties  the  most  interested  financially,  that  in  times 
past  public  service  corporations  have  received  grants  and  fran- 
chises, the  value  of  which  is  out  of  all  proportion  to  the  considera- 
tion paid  therefor;  and  further,  that  a  failure  to  distinguish  between 
a  purely  private  corporation  and  a  quasi-public  corporation  has  led 
to  acts  on  the  part  of  the  officers  and  managers  of  the  latter  which 
not  only  have  lacked  a  just  consideration  of  the  rights  of  the  pub- 
lic, but  which  too  often  have  been  tainted  by  bribery  and  corrup- 
tion. 

The  public  has  at  last  awakened  to  this  situation.  It  recalls 
the  day  of  the  horse  car  and  contrasts  the  limited  use  of  the  streets 
of  that  time  with  the  overcrowded  condition  now  prevailing.  It 
perceives  that  millions  of  capital  are  now  invested  in  street  railway 
properties  where  formerly  there  were  thousands;  that  consolidation 


208  PUBLIC    SERVICE    CORPORATION    QUESTION. 

of  interests  has  led  to  the  doubUng  and  tripling  of  the  combined 
capital  of  the  old  corporations;  that  companies  which  a  few  years 
ago  were  struggling  to  meet  the  bare  expense  of  operation  are 
now  earning  and  paying  dividends  upon  this  increased  capitaliza- 
tion, and  that  the  bonds  of  street  railroads  have  taken  a  place 
alongside  of  the  bonds  of  steam  railroads  in  the  minds  of  a  large 
proportion  of  the  investors  of  this  country. 

The  comparison  could  be  extended  to  other  corporations  hav- 
ing a  like  relation  to  the  public,  but  the  illustration  of  the  street 
railroad  is  sufficient. 

Over  against  this  startling  development  of  public  service  cor- 
porations and  closely  linked  with  their  fortunes  is  the  surprising 
growth  in  size  and  wealth  of  cities.  Formerly  the  question  of  gov- 
ernment of  cities  was  simple.  Now  it  is  more  complex  than  that 
involved  in  the  largest  private  enterprises.  But  the  growth  of  cities 
and  the  resulting  evils  as  well  as  the  enormous  benefits  to  the  citi- 
zens as  a  body  and  individually  is  so  clearly  before  the  minds  of  the 
members  of  this  organization,  that  further  comment  is  unnec- 
essary. Suffice  it  to  say,  for  the  purpose  of  the  thought  I  venture 
to  bring  before  you,  that  with  this  accompanying  growth  enor- 
mous expenditures  have  been  necessary.  Our  cities  have  been 
bonded  to  the  limit  set  by  law.  It  is  estimated  that  the  municipal 
indebtedness  of  the  cities  of  this  country  was  in  i860  about  $100,- 
000,000;  in  1870  it  was  $515,000,000;  in  1880  it  had  advanced  to 
$826,000,000;  in  1890  to  $906,000,000;  to-day  it  must  exceed  $1,- 
000,000,000,  and  the  end  is  not  yet.  At  this  very  convention  we 
are,  as  I  am  informed,  to  discuss  how  it  may  be  possible  without 
infraction  of  law  and  without  overstepping  the  limits  of  sound 
economic  principles,  to  empower  our  municipalities  to  borrow 
sums  far  in  excess  of  the  indebtedness  already  existing. 

One  of  the  suggestions  offered  by  which  cities  shall  be  permit- 
ted to  exceed  the  legally  established  limits  is  to  exclude  from  the 
operation  of  the  law  all  indebtedness  created  for  the  purpose  of  ac- 
quiring public  service  corporations,  on  the  ground  that  the  returns 
to  the  city  from  such  corporations  will  be  sufficient  to  take  care  of 
both  principal  and  interest  of  the  debt.  The  suggestion  deserves 
consideration;  but,  were  such  policy  adopted,  it  will  be  none 
the  less  true  that  the  total  actual  indebtedness  of  municipalities,  if 


HARRY    A.    GARFIELD.  2O9 


municipal  ownership  is  established,  will  be  enormously  increased. 
What,  my  fellow  citizens,  will  then  be  the  attitude  of  the  public 
toward  our  creditors?  What,  indeed,  is  the  attitude  of  the  public 
to-day  toward  those  who  have  invested  in  these  securities?  I  beg 
you  mark  that  the  situation  is  not  different  in  kind  from  that  pre- 
sented at  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  when  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  found  itself  in  the  debtor  class  to  the  ex- 
tent of  $2,845,000,000  at  rates  of  interest  so  large  that  the  total  an- 
nual payment  on  that  accoimt  amounted  to  $130,000,000.00.  The 
creation  of  the  debt  at  that  time  had  been  made  necessary  thai  the 
integrity  of  the  Union  might  be  preserved.  The  creation  of  the 
enormous  municipal  indebtedness  of  to-day  has  been  made  neces- 
sary in  order  that  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  our  country 
should  not  be  impeded,  and  in  order  that  opportunity  to  labor  and 
live  should  be  preserved  to  the  eighty  millions  of  people  residing 
wdthin  our  borders. 

But  there  is  another  and  more  striking  resemblance  between 
the  situation  in  which  the  country  found  itself  in  1865  and  that  in 
which  it  is  to-day.  Those  who  think  upon  the  growth  of  public 
service  corporations;  who  are  scandalized  by  the  corruption  which 
has  marked  the  stages  of  this  progress,  are  many  of  them  ready 
to  rise  up  in  indignation  against  these  interests  and  to  justify  the 
violation  of  a  contract  because  of  past  acts  of  injustice  by  those 
corporations.  And  it  is  very  adroitly  argued  that,  if  franchises 
are  taken  away,  or  if  railroads  are  forced  against  their  will  and 
against  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  contract  to  receive  returns  be- 
low that  wdiich  the  law  allows  them,  the  pul)lic  is  thereby  but  rec- 
tifying the  unjustifiable  over-capitalization  which  has  taken  place. 
In  other  words,  the  public  says  to  the  corporation:  "Your  stock 
ought  not  to  be  worth  one  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar  to-day; 
it  is  intrinsically  worth  but  a  fraction  of  that  amount,  and  you  have 
no  manner  of  right  to  base  dividends  on  any  other  figure  than  real 
value.  If  by  reducing  the  fare  of  your  street  railroad  we  reduce 
your  earnings,  we  are  not  thereby  doing  an  injustice." 

The  argument  is  plausible,  but  is  it  any  more  plausible,  when- 
applied  to  existing  contracts,  than  the  argument  addressed  to  the 
citizens  of  this  Republic  from  1865  to  1870,  concerning  the  taxa- 
tion of  government  bonds?    Wlien  our  members  of  Congress  were 


2IO  PUBLIC    SERVICE    CORPORATION    QUESTION. 

confronted  by  the  enormous  debt  created  by  the  War  of  the  Re- 
belHon,  when  peace  had  been  firmly  established  and  the  time  was 
ripe  to  consider  by  what  means  this  indebtedness  should  be  met, 
one  of  the  methods  suggested  was  to  tax  the  government  bonds; 
but  the  Supreme  Court  stayed  the  hand  of  Congress  and  declared 
that  the  obligations  created  by  it  must  be  paid  dollar  for 
dollar.  The  repudiator  did  not,  however,  give  up  the  fight. 
He  indignantly  denied  any  intention  to  repudiate,  and  de- 
fended his  course  by  the  argument  that  the  government  had  re- 
ceived but  sixty-eight  cents  on  the  dollar  for  its  bonds  and  hence 
was  doing  no  injustice  if  it  required  the  creditor  to  accept  a  small 
fraction  less  than  one  hundred  cents  in  payment.  And  so  it  was 
proposed  to  evade  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  by  levying 
a  tax  upon  the  annual  interest  derived  from  government  securi- 
ties. Throughout  the  country  the  movement  gained  great  head- 
way. For  the  most  part  our  public  debt  was  owed  to  foreigners. 
Without  doubt  a  large  proportion  of  it  had  been  taken  for  specu- 
lative purposes,  in  the  belief  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  would  soon  readjust  its  affairs  and  that  the  bonds  pur- 
chased at  sixty-eight  would  be  worth  par. 

From  the  standpoint  of  to-day  it  is  easy  to  see,  and  I  presume 
there  is  not  a  man  in  this  audience  who  would  not  agree,  that  any 
of  these  propositions  to  tax  our  government  securities  was  to  the 
extent  of  that  tax  a  repudiation  of  our  contract  to  pay.  And  yet 
the  country  was  almost  ready  to  take  the  step  which  would  have 
forever  destroyed  our  credit  and  stained  our  national  honor. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  convinced  that  many  of  the  citizens  of  our 
larger  municipalities  are  listening  to  propositions  which  are  no  less 
dishonorable  than  the  proposition  to  repudiate  a  part  of  the  indebt- 
edness of  our  republic.  The  statement  may  seem  harsh,  but  it  is 
true.  What  is  a  grant,  a  franchise,  to  a  public  service  corporation? 
We  are  too  apt  to  regard  it  as  a  license,  revocable  at  will.  I  am  per- 
fectly aware  that  attempts  have  been  made  to  distinguish  between 
a  contract  and  a  franchise;  but  shorn  of  technicalities  and  the  dis- 
tinctions of  fine  drawn  definitions,  a  grant  to  a  public  service  cor- 
poration to  lay  tracks  in  the  street  with  accompanying  provisions 
as  to  rates  of  fare,  etc.,  is  when  acted  upon  a  contract  between 
that  corporation  and  the  municipality.  It  has  all  the  essential  fea- 


HARRY   A.    GARFIELD.  211 


tures  of  a  contract,  and  it  is  binding-  at  law  upon  the  parties.  It 
may  be  a  fact,  and  an  irritating  fact  that  when  the  contract  was 
made  the  city  parted  with  rights  at  a  wholly  inadequate  figure,  but 
as  is  well  known  to  every  lawyer,  the  consideration  of  a  contract  is 
notrequiredtobeanequivalent.lt  is  a  good  consideration  if  it  is  suf- 
,ficient  and  no  one  will  undertake  to  deny  that  a  sufficient  con- 
sideration is  named  in  the  contracts,  and  that  the  terms  of  the  con- 
tracts have  been  from  year  to  year  complied  with  in  the  vast  ma- 
jority of  cases.  It  may  also  be  a  fact  that  the  street  railroad  com- 
panies, pursuing  a  short  sighted  policy,  have  maintained  a  for- 
midable lobby  in  various  city  halls  throughout  this  country.  It 
is  undoubtedly  a  fact  that  those  who  bought  railway  securities 
ten  years  ago  may  contemplate  the  gratifying  result  of  a  greatly 
enhanced  value.  But  do  any  of  these  considerations  warrant  us  in 
pursuing  a  course  calculated  to  take  from  these  corporations  their 
contract  rights? 

Furthermore,  the  entire  burden  of  the  blame  does  not  lie  at  the 
door  of  the  public  service  corporations.  Cities  have  been  prodigal 
in  their  expenditures,  and  the  time  has  now  come  when  it  is  easily 
perceived  that  we  must  make  preparation  to  pay  our  indebtedness, 
then  arises  the  question,  What  shall  we  tax?  The  tax  laws  of 
Ohio  and  of  many  other  States  are  sadly  in  need  of  revision.  With- 
out any  manner  of  doubt,  street  railroad  corporations,  for  exam- 
ple, are  greatly  undertaxed.  But  again,  none  of  these  things  can 
justify  the  repudiation  of  a  contract.  What  will  an  overflowing 
treasury  profit  us,  if  the  public  conscience  be  dulled  to  a  high  sense 
of  honor  and  integrity? 

I  have  ventured  thus  far  into  a  field  which  may  appear  aside 
from  the  particular  question  under  discussion.  But  I  am  pro- 
foundly impressed  with  the  necessity  of  bringing  the  mind  back 
to  the  fundamental  principles  which  must  actuate  the  public  in 
dealing  with  this  important  question,  and  the  first  and  foremost 
principle  is  to  do  justice  on  our  part,  irrespective  of  whether  the 
other  party  has  been  just  or  unjust.  And  so  firmly  am  I  con- 
vinced of  the  correctness  of  this  position  that  I  believe  the  owners 
and  managers  of  the  public  service  corporations  will  themselves 
co-operate  with  the  municipality  which  so  governs  its  action. 


212  PUBLIC    SERVICE    CORPORATION    QUESTION. 

And  now,  coming  to  a  more  direct  consideration  of  the  question, 
I  beg  to  submit  in  briefest  outline  some  suggestions  for  a  pro- 
position which  are  at  present  being  considered  by  the  Municipal 
Association  of  Cleveland,  and  while  they  apply  exclusively  to  the 
street  railroad  situation  in  our  city,  the  principle  can  be  extended 
readily  to  public  service  corporations  generally.  The  grants  to  the 
two  com.panies  owning  the  Cleveland  street  railroads  expire  at  dif- 
ferent times  within  the  next  fourteen  years.  Already,  actuated  by 
the  instinct  of  self-preservation,  the  railroads  are  anxiously  looking 
forward  to  a  renewal  of  their  contracts.  For  the  past  three  or  four 
years,  the  public  mind  has  been  more  or  less  agitated  by  the  street 
railroad  question,  and  public  opinion  is  divided.  Perhaps  it  may 
be  said  to  be  divided  along  the  three  following  lines:  First,  the 
wave  of  enthusiasm  for  municipal  ownership  now  passing  over 
the  country  affects  a  large  number  of  our  people.  A  second 
class  cares  less  about  municipal  ownership,  but  is  firmly  con- 
vinced that  a  renewal  of  contract  on  a  basis  of  low  fares  is 
the  better  policy,  while  a  third  class  believes  that  municipal  owner- 
ship under  present  conditions  and  without  a  properly  developed 
civil  service  system  would  but  strengthen  the  hand  of  the  un- 
scrupulous politician  by  furnishing  him  with  new  material  for  his 
political  machine.  This  third  class  advocates  a  renewal  of  fran- 
chise on  the  basis  of  present  fares,  provided  the  railroads  will  agree 
to  pay  a  percentage  of  their  gross  receipts  into  the  public  treas- 
ury. Undoubtedly  there  are  many  who  are  not  included  in  any 
single  one  of  the  above  classes,  but  in  general  I  believe  that  classi- 
fication fairly  represents  the  division  of  opinion  in  Cleveland. 

It  is  also  believed  by  many  that  whichever  of  the  above  pro- 
grams is  to  be  adopted,  no  renewal  ought  at  this  time  to  be  agreed 
to;  that  because' of  the  thoroughness  with  which  the  question  is  at 
present  being  agitated,  it  would  be  far  wiser  to  postpone  any  ac- 
tion until  near  the  time  of  the  expiration  of  the  present  contracts. 

The  Municipal  Association  of  Cleveland  has  for  a  long  time 
given  serious  consideration  to  this  question,  having  issued  a  bulle- 
tin in  1897  at  the  time  when  an  attempt  was  made  to  push  through 
the  City  Council  an  ordinance  which  the  Association  believed  to  be 
prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  city,  and  during  the  past  summer 


HARRY    A.    GARFIELD.  2I3 


having  opposed  the  grant  of  an  extension  of  one  of  the  lines  for  a 
like  reason. 

It  believes  it  to  be  far  wiser  to  postpone  any  action  looking  to 
renewals  until  the  expiration  of  the  present  contracts,  but,  recog- 
nizing the  desire  of  a  large  proportion  of  citizens  to  proceed  to  an 
immediate  consideration  of  the  question  and  recognizing  the  ex- 
isting diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  basis  to  be  established,  the 
Association  has  endeavored  to  fairly  weigh  the  rights  and  inter- 
ests of  all  parties  and  at  the  same  time  to  suggest  that  which  is 
practical  and  possible  of  accomplishment  in  the  event  that  renewals 
are  made.  The  Association  reasons  as  follows:  The  advocate  of 
municipal  ownership  can  hardly  ask  that  his  views,  which  are,  to 
say  the  least,  radical  for  this  country,  should  be  enforced  in  the 
face  of  an  honest  opposition  from  other  citizens  quite  as  anxious  to 
subserve  the  public  interest  as  he;  on  the  other  hand  those  who 
advocate  the  payment  by  the  railroad  of  a  percentage  of  gross  re- 
ceipts, would,  it  seems,  take  too  much  upon  themselves  to  say 
that  the  time  will  never  come  in  which  the  municipality  can  safely 
be  entrusted  with  the  management  of  street  railroad  property. 
Also  there  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  lower  fares  in  the  interest 
of  workingmen.  And  then  there  is  the  street  railroad  company. 
If  we  are  to  put  aside,  and  I  believe  we  nuist,  any  thought  of  re- 
pudiating a  contract  entered  entered  into,  then  we  must  consider 
the  railroads  as  parties  to  an  existing  agreement  with  right  of  as- 
sent or  dissent  to  any  proposals  looking  to  a  change  of  terms. 
Under  such  circumstances  can  we  reasonably  expect  a  street 
railroad  company,  having  still,  we  will  say,  ten  years  of  the 
life  of  its  contract  left,  to  surrender  the  very  great  privileges 
which  it  possesses  and  upon  which  the  value  of  its  property  is 
largely  based,  without  an  adequate  return?  Undoubtedly,  it  would 
be  more  acceptable  to  the  citizens  of  Cleveland  if  the  street  rail- 
roads would  consent  to  surrender  their  present  franchises  for  new 
twenty-five-year  contracts  with  an  agreement  that  the  ciry  might 
at  any  time  acquire  the  roads  at  the  appraised  value  of  the  physical 
properly  only,  no  account  being  taken  of  franchise  value;  but  who 
can  reasonably  expect  that  the  railroads  would  consent  to 
such  an  arrangement?  Or,  again,  can  we  expect  that  a  street 
railroad  should  leave  out  of  account  the  vast  sums  used  in  develop- 


214  PUBLIC    SERVICE    CORPORATIOX    QUESTION. 

ing  their  present  well-equipped  roads?  Shall  we  require  them  to 
charge  off  at  one  stroke  of  the  pen  the  discarded  horse  cars  and 
inferior  rails  of  a  few  years  ago?  In  any  other  business,  the  pro- 
cess is  gradual.  May  not  a  certain  proportion  of  this  discarded 
material  and  equipment  still  be  properly  carried  as  an  asset?  We 
must  remember  also,  that  the  roads  own  at  the  present  time  that 
which  we  ourselves  loudly  declare  to  be  of  immense  value,  namely, 
a  franchise  for  a  term  of  years.  Can  we  expect  that  they  will  sur- 
render this  property  without  an  adequate  consideration? 

The  following  outline  will  indicate  the  position  of  the  Municipal 
Association  of  Cleveland  upon  the  question.  With  its  present 
light  upon  the  subject,  the  Association  is  convinced  that  no  renew- 
als should,  under  any  circumstances,  be  considered  satisfactory  to 
the  city  which  do  not  include  the  following  reservations  and  pro- 
visions : 

(a)  A  reservation  to  the  city  to  at  any  time  re-take  the  franchise 
and  purchase  the  railroad  property  by  the  payment  of  the  ap- 
praised value  of  the  physicial  property,  account  being  also  taken 
of  material  and  equipment,  worn  out  or  discarded,  and  still  proper- 
ly carried  as  an  asset;  but  if  the  city  elect  to  take  the  railroad  prop- 
erty prior  to  19 — •  (the  average  life  of  the  present  existing  fran- 
chises), then  the  city  should  pay  the  railroad  company  the  esti- 
mated value  of  the  franchise  between  the  date  of  acquisition  by 
the  city  and  19 — ;  but  thereafter  no  account  should  be  taken  of 
fratichise  value. 

(b)  A  requirement  that  the  railroad  pay  to  the  city  annually  a 
percentage  of  gross  receipts  from  all  sources  according  to  a  sliding 
scale  to  be  agreed  upon;  right  being  reserved  to  the  Council  to 
require  lower  fares,  in  which  event,  however,  the  percentage  of 
gross  receipts  should  be  less  by  a  proportion  to  be  specified  in  the 
original  contract. 

Note. — (a)  By  this  reservation  the  city  saves  to  itself  the  right  to  own 
and  operate  the  roads,  should  the  legislature  authorize  it,  and  the  people 
desire  it. 

Note. — (b)  By  this  requirement  the  question  of  low  fares,  or  payment 
of  a  percentage  of  gross  profits,  would  be  susceptible  of  change  from  time 
to  time  by  the  council. 


HARRV    A.    GARFIELD.  215 


(c)  A  requirement  that  the  railroad  company's  books  be  open  at 
all  proper  times  to  inspection  for  the  determination  of  gross  re- 
ceipts by  accountants  of  recognized  ability  and  standing  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  Mayor. 

The  Association  realizes  that  these  propositions  are  but  an  out- 
line; they  cover  but  part  of  all  that  should  be  included  in  a  final 
program,  but  they  cover  the  essentials.  I  state  them  to  the  con- 
vention more  by  way  of  a  report  upon  the  Cleveland  situation  than 
for  the  consideration  of  this  body.  But  the  principles  by  which  we 
have  been  governed  must,  I  believe,  underlie  any  wisely  conceived 
program. 

The  provisions  of  the  proposed  Municipal  Code  bearing  upon 
this  subject  prepared  by  the  Ohio  Commission  and  under  discus- 
sion before  this  body,  as  well  as  the  report  of  your  own  committee 
upon  codification  of  municipal  laws,  and  also  the  suggestions  to  be 
offered  by  Mr.  Allan  Ripley  Foote,  are  entitled  to  respectful  and 
careful  consideration. 

The  time  has  been  too  short  to  enable  me  to  examine  thoroughly 
the  provisions  of  the  proposed  Ohio  code,  and  I  do  not,  there- 
fore, venture  to  pass  any  criticism  upon  it.  Whatever  need  there 
may  be  for  amendment  or  change,  the  value  of  the  work  as  look- 
ing toward  a  codification  of  the  laws  governing  our  municipalities 
is  unquestionably  great.  And  it  is  to  be  sincerely  hoped  that  the 
incoming  Legislature  of  Ohio  will  take  no  step  backward,  but  will 
seek,  by  a  continuation  of  the  Commission,  if  necessary,  to  place 
upon  the  statute  books  a  uniform  law  calculated  to  establish  the 
cities  and  villages  of  this  State  upon  sound  political  and  economic 
footing,  and  with  powers  commensurate  with  the  great  responsi- 
bilities which  municipalities  owe  to  the  public. 

Note. — (c)  This  provision  would  be  absolutely  essential  to  the  protec- 
tion of  the  city's  interest. 


2l6  CONSTITUTIONAL    AMENDMENTS. 


CONSTITUTIONAL   AMENDMENTS. 


ARTICLE  FIRST. 

Section  3 .    The  right  to  vote  and  registration. 
Sec.  2.    Secrecy  in  voting. 

Sec.  3.  Separation  of  City  Elections  from  State  and  National  Elec- 
tions.   Nominations  to  City  Office.    Method  of  Voting. 

ARTICLE  SECOND. 

No  private  or  local  bill  granting  exclusive  privileges,  immunities,  or 
franchises. 

ARTICLE  THIRD. 

Section  1.  A  city's  public  places  inalienable.  Franchises  for  their  use 
only  for  limited  term.  Stated  financial  reports  of  the  grantee  and  right 
of  city  to  inspect  grantee's  books  a  condition  of  their  grant. 

Sec.  2.    Limitation  of  city's  power  to  incur  debt  and  of  its  tax  rate. 

Sec.  3.  City's  power  to  establish  direct  legislation  or  minority  or 
proportional  or  other  form  of  representation  as  to  elections  to  elective 
city  offices. 

Sec.  4.    Uniform  methods  of  city  accounting. 

Sec.  5.    City  may  establish  minor  courts. 

See.  6.  Organization  of  cities  hereafter  created  must  provide  for 
Mayor  vested  with  executive  power  of  city  and  appointing  heads  of  all 
city  departments  except  Finance  Department;  a  council;  appointments 
and  promotions  in  administrative  service  on  the  merit  principle;  mayor 
and  members  of  council  only  city  officers  elected  by  popular  vote. 

Sec.  7.    General  powers  of  cities. 

Sec.  8.    Legislature  shall  pass  a  general  municipal  coiiDorations  act. 

ARTICLE  FOURTH. 

A  city  having  a  population  of  twenty-five  thousand  or  more  may  adopt 
its  own  charter  and  frame  of  government. 

ARTICLE  FIFTH. 
PETITIONS. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AMENDMENTS.  21/ 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AMENDMENTS. 


ARTICLE  FIRST. 

Section  1.  The  Right  to  Vote  and  Registration.  Laws  shall  be  marie 
for  ascertaining  by  proper  proofs  the  citizens  who  shall  be  entitled  to 
vote  at  popular  elections  and  for  the  personal  registration  of  voters, 
which  registration  shall  be  completed  at  least  ten  days  before  each  elec- 
tion. 

See.  2.  Secrecy  in  Voting.  All  elections  by  the  citizens  shall  be  by  a 
secret  ballot  or  by  such  other  method  as  may  be  prescribed"  by  law,  pro- 
vided that  absolute  secrecy  in  voting  be  preserved.  No  voter  shall  dis- 
close at  any  polling  place  or  within feet  thereof  how  he  has  voted. 

Sec.  3.  City  Elections  and  Nominations.  Method  of  Voting.  Elec- 
tions of  city  officers  elected  by  popular  vote  shall  occur  at  a  different 
date  from  that  of  any  election  by  popular  vote  of  officers  of  the  State 
or  National  government.  Nominations  of  such  city  officers  shall  be  by 
petition,  signed  by  qualified  voters  of  the  city  concerned.  The  number  of 
the  signatures  to  such  petition  shall  be  determined  by  the  council  of 
the  city  concerned,  but  not  more  than  fifty  signatures  shall  be  re- 
quired. Such  petition  shall  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the  mayor  at  least 
thirty  days  before  the  date  of  the  election;  provided,  however,  that  in 
the  case  of  the  death  or  withdrawal  of  any  candidate  so  nominated  such 
petition  may  be  so  filed  within  a  less  period  than  thirty  days.  The  voter 
must  vote  separately  for  each  candidate  for  whom  he  desires  to  vote;  if 
the  election  is  by  ballot  the  council  of  the  city  sliall  determine  the  form 
of  the  ballot  to  be  uf-ed,  and  the  names  of  all  candidates  for  the  same  city 
office  must  be  printed  upon  the  ballot  in  alphabetical  order  under  the 
title  of  the  office. 

ARTICLE  SECOND. 

Private  Bills.  The  Legislature  shall  not  pass  a  private  or  local  bill 
granting  to  any  private  corporation,  association,  or  individual  any  ex- 
clusive privilege,  immunity,  or  franchise  whatever. 

ARTICLE  THIRD. 

Section  1.  Streets  and  Public  Places.  Franchises.  The  rights  of 
every  city  now  existing,  or  hereafter  created  within  the  State,  in  and  to 
its  water  front,  ferries,  wharf,  property,  land  under  water,  public  land- 
ings, wharves,  docks,  streets,  avenues,  parks,  bridges,  and  all  other  pub- 


21  8  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


lie  places,  are  hereby  declared  to  be  inalienable,  except  by  a  fourth-fifths 
vote  of  all  the  members  elected  to  the  Council  approved  by  the  Mayor; 
and  no  franchise,  lease  or  right  to  use  the  same,  either  on,  through, 
across,  under,  or  over,  and  no  other  franchise  granted  by  a  city,  to  any 
private  corporation,  association,  or  individual,  shall  be  for  a  longer 
period  than  twenty-one  years.  Such  grant  and  any  contract  in  pursu- 
ance thereof  may  provide  that  upon  the  termination  of  the  grant,  the 
plant,  as  well  as  the  property,  if  any,  of  the  grantee  in  the  streets,  ave- 
nues, and  other  public  places  shall  thereupon,  without  further  or  other 
compensation  to  the  grantee,  or  upon  the  payment  of  a  fair  valuation 
thereof,  be  and  become  the  propoerty  of  the  city;  but  the  grantee  shall 
be  entitled  to  no  payment  because  of  any  valuation  derived  from  the 
franchise.  Every  grant  shall  specify  the  mode  of  determining  any  valu- 
ation therein  provided  for,  and  shall  make  adequate  provision  by  way 
of  forfeiture  of  the  grant,  or  otherwise,  to  secure  efficiency  of  public  ser- 
vice at  reasonable  rates,  and  the  maintenance  of  the  property  in  good 
order  throughout  the  term  of  the  grant.  Every  grantee  of  such  fran- 
chises or  rights  to  use  shall  keep  books  of  accounts  and  make  stated 
(luarterly  reports  to  the  financial  Department  of  the  city,  which  shall 
contain  an  accurate  statement  in  summarized  form  and  also  in  detail 
of  all  financial  receipts  from  all  sources  and  all  expenditures  for  ali 
purijoses,  together  with  a  full  statement  of  assets  and  debts,  as  well  as 
such  other  information  as  to  the  financial  condition  of  such  grantee  as 
said  department  may  require,  and  said  department  may  inspect  and  ex- 
amine, or  cause  to  be  inspected  and  examined,  at  all  reasonable  hom'S, 
any  books  of  account  of  such  grantee. 

Sec.  2.  Municipal  Indebtedness.  Tax  Rate.  No  city  shall  hereafter 
give  any  money  or  property,  or  loan  its  money  or  credit  to  or  in  aid  of 
any  private  individual,  association,  or  corporation;  but  it  may  make 
such  provision  for  the  aid  and  support  of  its  poor  as  may  be  authorized 
by  law. 

No  city  shall  beccme  indebted  for  any  purpose  or  in  any  manner  to 

an  amount  which,  including  existing  indebtedness,  shall  exceed  

per  centum  of  the  assessed  valuation  of  the  real  estate  within  such  city 
subject  to  taxation  as  shown  by  the  last  preceding  assessment  for  State 
or  city  taxes;  provided,  howeA'cr,  that  in  determining  the  limitation  of 
the  city's  power  to  incur  indebtedness  there  shall  not  be  included  the 
following  classes  of  indebtedness: 

(1)  Certificates  of  indebtedness  or  revenue  bonds  issued  in  anticipa- 
tien  of  the  collection  of  taxes,  imkss  the  same  be  not  paid  within  two 
years  from  the  date  of  issue;  and  all  certificates  of  indebtedness  and 
revenue  bonds  shall  be  provided  for  and  payable  from  the  taxes  levied  for 
the  year  in  which  they  are  issued,  and  shall  never  exceed  the  amount  of 
such  taxes; 

(2)  Or  bonds  authorized  by  the  affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the 
members  of  the  Council,  approved  by  the  Mayor  and  approved  by  the 


CONSTITUTIONAL   AMENDMENTS.  2I9 

affirmative  vote  of  the  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  the  city  voting 
upon  the  question  of  their  issuance  at  the  next  ensuing  city  election,  for 
the  supply  of  water  or  for  other  specific  undertaking  from  which  the 
city  will  derive  a  revenue;  but  from  and  after  a  period  to  be  determined 
by  the  Council,  not  exceeding  five  years  from  the  date  of  such  election, 
whenever  and  for  so  long  as  such  an  undertaking  fails  to  produce  suffi- 
cient revenue  to  pay  all  costs  of  operation  and  administration  (including 
Interest  on  the  city's  bonds  issued  therefor  and  the  cost  of  insurance 
against  losses  by  fire,  accidents  and  injuries  to  persons)  arid  an  annual 
amount  sufficient  to  pay  at  or  before  maturity  all  bonds  issued  on  ac- 
count of  >aid  undertaking,  all  such  bonds  outstanding  shall  be  included 
in  determining  the  limitation  of  the  city's  power  to  incur  indebtedness, 
unless  the  principal  and  interest  thereof  be  payable  exclusively  from  the 
receipts  of  such  und'.u'taking.  The  City  Controller  shall  annually  report 
to  the  Council  in  detail  the  amount  of  the  revenue  from  each  such  un- 
dertaking and  whether  there  is  any,  and,  if  so,  what  deficit  in  meeting 
the  requirements  r.nove  set  forth. 

Provisions  shall  be  made  at  the  time  of  their  issue  for  raising  a  sum 
of  money  by  taxation  suflicient  to  pay,  as  it  falls  due,  the  interest  upon 
all  city  bonds  not  exclusively  payable  from  the  receipts  of  revenue-pro- 
ducing undertakings,  and  to  pay  and  discharge  the  principal  thereof 

within *  years  from  the  date  of  their  issue;  but  whenever  in  any 

year  the  receipts  from  any  revenue-producing  undertaking  shall  be  sufli- 
cient to  pay  the  costs  of  operation  and  administration  as  above  defined, 
and  the  annual  amount  hereinbefore  required,  the  tax  to  pay  the  interest 
and  provide  for  the  principal  of  the  bonds  issued  for  such  undertaking 
shall  not  be  collected,  and  the  same  shall  be  paid  from  such  receipts. 

The  amount  to  be  raised  by  tax  for  city  purposes  upon  real  and  per- 
sonal property,  or  either  of  them,  in  addition  to  providing  for  the  prin- 
cipal and  interest  of  the  then  outstanding  bonded  indebtedness  shall  not 

in  the  aggregate  exceed  in  any  one  year per  centum  of  the  assessed 

valuation  of  the  rea.  estate  subject  to  taxation  by  such  city,  to  be  ascer- 
tained Ts  hereinbefore  prescribed  in  respect  to  the  city  debt.** 

Sec.  3.  Direct  Legislation.  Minority  and  Proportional  Representation. 
The  CouEcil  of  any  city  may,  with  the  consent  of  the  majority  of  the 
qualified  voters  of  the  city  voting  thereon  at  the  next  ensuing  city  elec- 
tion takmg  place  not  less  than days  thereafter,  establish  a  method  of 

direct  legislation  so  that  qualified  voters  of  the  city  may  submit  and  a 
majority  thereof  voting  thereon  may  decide  by  direct  vote  propositions 


*  This  period  should  not,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  exceed  thirty  years. 

**  Under  this  section  a  city  may  issue  lijngterm  bonds,  establish  and  maintain  a  sinking 
fund  sufficient  to  provide  for  their  payment  at  maturity  ;  or  it  may  have  the  bonds  so  drawn 
that  a  certain  number  will  mature  each  year  and  be  paid  from  the  tax  as  collected.  By  the 
latter  method  the  city  avoids  any  risk  incident  to  a  sinking  fund,  the  loss  of  interest  on 
money  not  invested,  any  premiums  it  might  pay  to  buy  back  its  own  bonds  and  the  abuses 
incident  to  large  accumulations  of  uninvested  money. 


220  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


relative  to  city  matters,  and  may  also  in  the  same  manner  establish 
minority  or  proportional  or  other  method  of  representation  as  to  elec- 
tions to  elective  city  offices.  On  a  petition  therefor,  filed  in  the  office  of 
the  Mayor,  signed  by  qualified  voters  of  the  city,  equal  in  number  to 
two  pnr  cent,  (which  shall  not  be  less  than  one  thousand)  of  those  vot- 
ings at  the  last  preceding  city  election,  a  proposition  to  establish  a  method 
of  direct  legislation,  or  to  establish  minority  or  proportional  or  other 
method  of  representation  as  to  elections  to  elective  city  offices,  must  be 
submitted  to  the  qualified  voters  of  the  city  at  the  next  ensuing  city 

election  occurring  at  least days  thereafter;  if  a  majority  of  such 

voters  voting  upon  such  proposition  are  in  favor  thereof,  it  shall  go  at 
once  into  effect. 

See.  4.  Uniform  Methods  of  City  Accounting.  Every  city  shall  keep  books 
of  account.  It  shall  also  make  stated  financial  reports  at  least  as  often 
as  once  a  year  to  the*  in  accordance  with  forms  and  methods  prescribed 
by  him,  which  shall  be  applicable  to  all  cities  within  the  State;  such 
reports  shall  be  printed  as  a  part  of  the  public  documents  of  the  State, 
and  submitted  by  the*  to  the  Legislature  at  its  next  regular  session. 
Such  reports  shall  contain  an  accurate  statement  in  summarized  form 
and  also  in  detail  of  the  financial  receipts  of  the  city  from  all  sources, 
and  of  the  expenditures  of  the  city  for  all  purposes,  together  with  a 
statement  In  detail  of  the  debt  of  said  city  at  the  date  of  said  report,  and 
of  the  purposes  for  which  such  debt  has  been  incurred,  as  well  as  such 
drier  information  as  may  be  required  by  the  *.  Said  *  shall  have  power 
by  himself,  or  by  some  competent  person  or  persons  appointed  by  him. 
to  examine  into  the  affairs  of  the  financial  department  of  any  city  vrlthin 
the  State.  On  every  such  examination  inquiry  shall  be  made  as  to  the 
financial  condition  and  resources  of  the  city,  and  whether  the  require- 
ments of  the  constitution  and  laws  have  been  complied  with,  and  into  the 
methods  and  accuracy  of  the  city's  accounts,  and  as  to  such  other  mat- 
ters as  the  said  *  may  prescribe.  The  *  and  every  such  examiner  ap- 
pointed by  him  shall  have  power  to  administer  an  oath  to  any  person 
whose  testimony  may  be  required  on  any  such  examination,  and  to  com- 
pel the  appearance,  attendance  and  testimony  of  any  such  person  for  the 
purpose  of  any  such  examination,  and  the  production  of  books  and  pa- 
pers. A  report  of  each  such  examination  shall  be  made  and  shall  be  a 
matter  of  public  record  in  ihe  oflice  of  said  *. 

Sec.  5.  City  Courts.  Cities  may  establish  minor  courts,  which  shall 
have  exclusive  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  in  the  first  instance  for 
the  enforcement  of  city  ordinances  and  of  penalties  for  violations  thereof. 
Such  courts  shall  have  such  further  or  other  jurisdiction  as  may  be  con- 
ferred by  the  Legislature,  subject  to  the  other  provisions  of  this  constitu- 
tion, but  they  shall  not  have  any  equity  jurisdiction,  nor  any  greater  juris- 


•  state  Controller  or  other  oflBcer,  or  hoard  which  may  exercise  supervision  over  muni- 
cipal finances. 


CONSTITUTIONAL    AMENDMENTS.  221 


diction  in  other  respects  than  is  conferred  upon  t.  No  one  shall  be 

eligible  to  appointment  as  such  justice  unless  he  has  been  **  for  at  least 
five  years.  Sucn  ju5;lJces  shall  be  subject  to  the  same  liabilities,  and 
their  judgments  and  proceedings  may  be  reviewed  in  the  same  Tuanner 
and  to  the  same  extent  as  is  now  or  may  be  provided  by  law  in  tlio  case 
of  t  The  justices  of  such  courts  and,  except  as  otherwise  in  this  con- 

stitution provided,  all  other  dry  judicial  officers  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
Mayor,  and  may  be  removed  by  him  in  the  same  manner  as  officers  in  the 
subordinate  administrative  service  of  the  city. 

Sec.  G,  Mimicipal  Organization.  In  the  organization  of  every  city  here- 
after createci  provision  shall  be  made: 

For  a  Council,  the  members  of  which  shall  be  elected  by  the  people; 

For  a  Mayor  elected  by  the  people. 

The  Mayor  shall  be  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city,  and  shall 
appoint  and  remove  all  heads  of  departments  in  the  administrative  ser- 
vice of  the  city,  except  the  head  of  the  Finance  Department,  who  shall  be 
known  as  the  Controller. 

The  3.!ayor  shall  appoint  and  remove  all  other  officers,  agents  and  em- 
ployees in  the  administrative  service  of  the  city,  and  fill  all  vacancies 
therein,  provided,  however,  that  laborers  may  be  appointed  and  removed 
by  the  heads  of  departments  in  which  they  are  employed  and  that  all 
appointments  and  promotions  in  the  subordinate  administrative  service 
of  the  city,  including  laborers,  shall  be  made  solely  according  to  fitness, 
which  shall  be  ascertained,  so  far  as  practicable,  by  examinations  thai, 
so  far  as  practicable,  shall  be  open  competitive  examinations. 

All  persons  in  the  adminstrative  service  of  the  city,  except  the  Mayor, 
shall  hold  their  offiecs  without  fixed  terms. 

The  Mayor  and  members  of  the  Council  shall  be  the  only  city  officer 
elected  by  popular  vote. 

Sec.  7.  General  Powers  of  Cities.  Every  city  within  the  State  shail 
b('  vested  with  power  to  acquire,  hold,  manage,  control  and  dispose  of 
property.  Within  its  corporate  limits,  it  shall  have  the  same  powers  of 
taxation  as  are  possessed  by  the  State;  it  may  license  and  regulate  all 
trades,  occupations,  and  business,  and  shall  be  vested  with  power  to  per- 
form and  render  all  public  services,  and  with  all  powers  of  government, 
subject  to  such  limitations  as  may  be  contained  in  the  constitution  and 
laws  of  the  State,  applicable  either  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  State  or 
to  all  the  cities  of  the  State,  or  in  such  special  laws  applicable  to  less 
than  all  cities  of  the  State,  as  may  be  enacted  in  the  manner  hereinafter 
provided. 

Special  laws  shall  require  the  affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  the 
members  of  the  Legislature,  and  shall  not  be  valid  in  any  city  unless  they 

**  An  attorney  and  counsellor-at-law  of  the  State,  or  some  equivalent  expression  appro- 
priate to  the  particular  State. 

t  Some  lower  court  recognized  us  a  regularly  constituted  part  of  the  State's  judicial 
system. 


222  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


receive  the  formal  approval  of  its  Council  within  sixty  days  after  the 
passage  thereof  by  the  Legislature,  or.  within  thirty  days  after  disap- 
proval hy  the  Council  of  the  city,  shall  again  be  passed  by  the  Legislature 
by  the  affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  all  the  members  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, which  two-thirds  shall  include  three-fourths  of  the  members  of  the 
Legislature,  from  districts  outside  of  the  city  or  cities  to  be  affected.  The 
failure  of  the  Council  of  the  city  to  take  formal  action  approving  or  disap- 
proving a  special  law  shall  be  deemed  a  disapproval  thereof.  Laws  re- 
pealing such  special  laws  may  be  passed  in  the  manner  provided  for  the 
passage  of  general  laws. 

Sec.  8.  General  Municipal  Corporations  Act.  The  Legislature  shall 
pass  a  general  municipal  corporations  Act  applicable  to  all  the  cities  in  the 
State  which  shall,  by  popular  vote,  determine  to  adopt  it. 

ARTICLE  FOURTH. 

Power  of  Cities  to  Frame  their  Own  Charters.  Subject  to  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws  of  the  State,  applicable  to  all  of  the  inhabitants  or  all 
the  cities  thereof,  and  to  such  special  laws  as  may  be  passed  in  the  man- 
ner hereinbefore  provided,  any  city  having  a  population  of  twenty-five 
thousand  or  more  may  adopt  its  own  charter  and  frame  of  government 
in  the  following  manner: 

The  Council  of  said  city  may,  and,  on  a  petition  therefor,  filed  in  the 
office  of  the  Mayor,  signed  by  qualified  voters  of  the  city  equal  in  number 
to  two  per  cent,  (which  shall  not  be  less  than  one  thousand  of  those  vot- 
ing at  the  last  preceding  election,  must  provide  by  ordinance  for  an 

election  to  take  place  not  less  than  days  nor  more  than  days 

thereafter,  upon  a  proposition  for  the  election  of  a  board  of  not  less  than 

fifteen  nor  more  than members,  to  prepare  and  propose  a  charter  and 

frame  of  government  for  such  city.  If  such  proposition  shall  receive  the 
afiirmative  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  the  city  voting 
thereon,  the  Council  must,  within  fifteen  days  thereafter,  provide  for  the 

election  of  such  a  board  within  not  more  than days.    It  shall  be  the 

duty  of  said  board  to  convene  upon  the ■  after 

said  election,  and  thereafter  and  within days  to  prepare  and  propose  a 

charter  and  frame  of  government  for  such  city,  which  shall  be  signed 
in  duplicate  by  the  members  thereof  or  a  majority  of  them,  and  re- 
turned, one  copy  therfcf  to  the  Mayor  and  the  other  to  the  Secretary  of 
State.  Such  proposed  charter  and  frame  of  government  shall  then  be 
published  daily  in  two  papers  of  general  circulation  in  such  city  for  at 
least  twenty  days.,  and  within  not  less  than  thirty  days  and  not  more 
than  sixty  days  after  such  publication,  shall  be  submitted  to  the  qualified 
voters  of  such  city  at  a  special  or  general  municipal  election,  and  the 
Council  of  said  cily  shall  provide  by  ordinance  for  the  holding  of  such 
special  election  unless  a  general  municipal  election  shall  be  held  within 
the  time  hereinbefore  prescribed. 


CONSTITUTIONAL   AMENDMENTS.  223 

If  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  the  city  voting'  thereon  shall 
ratify  the  same,  it  susll  become  the  charter  and  frame  of  governm'Uit  of 
such  city  and  the  organic  law  thereof,  and  supersede  and  repeal  all 
laws  inconsistent  therewith  and  any  existing  charter  and  all  amend- 
ments thereof.  A  copy  of  such  charter  and  frame  of  government  duly 
certified  by  the  proper  authorities  of  such  city,  setting  forth  its  submission 
to  the  legally  qnal'f.ed  voters  of  the  city  and  its  ratification  Ijy  them, 
shall  be  made  in  duplicate,  and  deposited,  one  in  the  office  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  and  the  other  among  the  archives  of  the  city.  All  courts 
shall  take  judicial  noiioe  thereof.  The  charter  and  frame  of  government 
so  adopted  may  be  amended  at  intervals  of  not  less  than  two  years  by 
proposals  therefor  which  the  Council  of  the  city  may,  and  wh(ni  requt-'ifd 
bv  a  petition  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Mayor,  signed  by  qualified  voters  of 
said  city  equal  in  number  to  two  per  cent,  (which  shall  not  be  less  than 
one  thousand)  of  those  Aoting  at  the  last  preceding  city  'ile^iion,  must 
submit  at  the  next  city  election  held  at  least  sixty  days  aftar  the  adoption 
of  the  ordinance  or  the  filing  of  such  petition  in  the  office  of  the  Mayor. 
Each  such  proposed  amendment  before  it  goes  into  effect  must  be  ratified 
by  a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  voting  thereon,  as  herein  provided 
for  the  adoption  of  the  charter  and  frame  of  government.  In  submitting 
any  such  proposal  any  alternative  article  or  proposition  may  be  presented 
for  the  choice  of  the  voters,  and  may  be  voted  on  separately  without 
prejxidice  to  others. 

ARTICLE  FIFTH. 

Petitions.  After  the  filing  of  a  petition  in  accordance  with  the  pro- 
visions of  the  foregoing  articles,  if  the  Council  of  the  city  neglects  or  fails 
to  provide  bj'  ordinance  for  an  election  as  hereinbefore  directed,  then  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Mayor  to  order  such  election,  and  his  order  for 
such  purpose,  duly  signed  by  him  and  filed  in  the  archives  of  the  city, 
shall  have  the  same  force  and  effect  as  an  ordinance  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. 

The  petitions  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  articles  need  not  be  one  pa- 
per, and  may  be  printed  or  written,  but  the  signatures  thereto  must  be 
the  autograph  signatures  of  the  persons  whose  names  purport  to  be 
signed.  To  each  signature  the  house  address  of  the  signer  must  be  add- 
ed, and  the  signature  must  be  made  and  aclinowledged  or  proved  before 
an  officer  authorized  by  law  to  take  acknowledgement  and  proof  of 
deeds.  The  certificate  of  such  officer  under  his  official  seal  that  a  signa- 
ture was  so  made  and  acknowledged  or  proved  shall  be  sufficient  proof 
of  the  genuineness  of  the  signature  for  the  purposes  of  these  articles. 

The  signing  of  anothev's  name,  or  of  a  false  or  fictitious  name,  to  a  peti- 
tion, or  the  signing  of  a  certificate  falsely  stating  either  that  a  signature 
was  made  in  the  presence  of  the  officer  or  acknowledged  or  proved  be- 
fore him,  shall  be  punishable  as  felonies. 


224  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


MUNICIPAL   CORPORATIONS   ACT. 


ART.  I. 


INCORPORATION  OF  CITIES.     PROCEDURE     FOR     ORGANIZA- 
TION OF  EXISTING  CITIES  UNDER  THIS  ACT  AND  FOR 
ANNEXATION  OF  TERRITORY. 

Section  1.     Cities,  villages,  towns,  and  Ijoroughs  heretofore  incorpo- 
rated may  organize  under  tliis  Act. 
Sec.  2.    How  a  city  organized  under  this  Act  may  annex  territory. 

ART.  II. 

POWERS  OF  CITIES. 

Section  1.  Corporate  Powers. 
Sec.  2.  Powers  of  Ordinance. 

Sec.  3.  Street  Powers,  Water-works,  Buildings,  and  Sewers. 
Sec.  4.  Wharves,  Doclis,  Harbors  and  Ferries. 
Sec.  5.  Marliets,  Marliet  Places,  and  Abattoirs. 
Sec.  6.  Charities  and  Correction. 
Sec.  7.  Fines,  Penalties  and  Imprisonment. 
Sec.  8.  Schools,  Museums,  Libraries,  and  Other  Institutions. 
Sec.  9.  Minor  Courts. 
Sec.  10.  P'ranchises. 

See.  11.  Contracts  for  Labor  or  Materials  Limited  to  Five  Years. 
Sec.  12.  Taxes. 
Sec.  13.  Local  Assessments. 
Sec.  14.  Indebtedness  and  Tax  Rate. 
Sec.  15.  City  Accounts. 

Sec.  16.  City  the  Local  Authority  for  Execution  of  General  Laws  of  th*? 
State. 
Sec.  17.  State  Supervision  of  the  City's  exercise  of  its  powers. 

ART.  III. 

THE  MAYOR. 

Section  1.  Mayor's  Term  of  Office. 
Sec.  2.  Filling  a  Vacancy. 
Sec.  3.  Disability  of  Mayor. 
Sec.  4.  Removal  of  Mayor. 


CORPORATIONS   ACT.  225 


Sec.  5.  Presence  of  Mayor  and  Heads  of     Departments    at     Conncil 
Meetings. 
Sec.  6.  Veto  Power  of  Mayor. 
Sec.  7.  City  Budget. 
Sec.  8.  Compensation  of  Mayor. 

ART.  IV. 
THE   ADMINISTRATIVE   SERVICE   OF  THE   CITY. 

Section  1.  Appointive  Officers. 

Sec.  2.  Civil-service  Commissioners. 

Sec.  3.  Civil-service  Regulations. 

Sec.  4.  Reports  of  Civil-service  Commissioners. 

Sec.  5.  Duty  of  Public  Officials  to  Obey  Civil-service  Regulations. 

Sec.  6.  Civil-service  Commissioners  to  keep  a  Roster  of  the  Administra- 
tive Service.  Payment  of  Public  Employees.  Action  to  Restrain  or  Re- 
cover Illegal  Payment  of  Salaries. 

Sec.  7.  Records  of  Civil-service  Commissioners.  Their  Duty  to  En- 
force Regulations. 

Sec.  8.  Power  of  Civil-service  Commissioners  to  Investigate. 

Sees.  9-15.  Specific  Prohibitions  and  Penalties  under  the  Civil-service 
Provisions  of  this  Act. 

Sec.  16.  Power  of  Removal. 

Sec.  17.  Power  of  Mayor  to  Investigate. 

ART.  V. 
THE  COUNCIL. 

Section  1.  Council  to  exercise  Muncipal  Powers. 

See.  2.  Composition  of  Council.  Members  of  Council  shall  Serve  With- 
out Pay. 

Sec.  3.  Council  Judge  of  the  Elections  and  Qualifications  of  Its  Own 
Members. 

Sec.  4.  Ineligibility  of  Councilors. 

Sec.  5.  Council  Elects  Its  Own  Officers  and  Determines  Its  Own  Rules. 

Sec.  6.  Quorum  of  Council. 

Sec.  7.  Meetings  of  Council.  Proceedings  of  Council  and  Sessions  of 
its  Committees  to  be  Public.  Special  Requirements  as  to  Publication  of 
Ordinances  Granting  Franchises. 

Sec.  8.  Council  may  establish  Municipal  Offices. 

Sec.  9.  Council's  Powers  of  Investigation. 

Sec.  10.  Councils  Powers  to  regulate  assessments,  levy  taxes,  and  make 
appropriations. 

Sec.  11.  Council  may  by  ordinance  provide  for  Direct  Legislation  or  for 
Minority  or  Proportional  or  other  form  of  Representation  in  Municipal 
Elections. 


226  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


ARTICLE  VI. 
THE  CONTROLLER. 
Council  elects  City  Controller.    Powers  and  Duties  of  Controller. 

ARTICLE  YII. 
GENERAL  PROVISIONS. 

Sec.  1.  Actions  by  Citizens. 

Sec.  2.  Municipal  Elections  to  take  place  at  a  separate  date  from  State 
or  National  Elections. 

Sec.  3.  Nominations  for  Elective  Municipal  Office  to  be  made  by  peti- 
tion at  least  thirty  days  before  Election. 

Sec.  4.  Petitions. 

ARTICLE  I. 
OF  THE  INCORPORATION  OF  CITIES. 

Section  1.  When  City  may  be  Incorporated. 

All  cities  hereafter  created  within  this  State  shall  be  organized  under 
the  provisions  of  this  Act.*    Any  city  or  borough,  or  any  incorporated 

town  or  village  of inhabitants,  heretofore  incorporated  under 

the  Laws  of  the  State,  may  organize  under  this  Act  in  the  following 
manner: 

On  apetitioii  filed  in  the  office  of  (1)  signed  by  not  less  than  five  hnodred 
qualified  voters  of  such  corporation,  or  on  the  two-thirds  vote  of  the  leg- 
islative authority  of  such  corporation,  there  shall  be  submitted  at  the 
next  local  election,  (2)  occurring  at  least  thirty  days  after  such  filing  or 
vote,  the  question  whether  or  not  the  form  of  organization  provided  in 
this  Act  shall  be  the  form  of  organization  of  said  corporation,  and  in  case 
a  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  thereof  voting  on  said  question,  vote 
in  favor  thereof,  said  city,  village,  incorporated  town,  or  borough  shall 
thereupon  be  and  become  a  body  politic  and  corporate  under  the  pro- 
visions of  this  Act,  provided,  however,  that  the  official  terms  of  the  offi- 
cers elected  at  the  next  ensuing  local  election,  held  in  accordance  with 
the  provisions  of  this  Act,  shall  commence,  and  the  terms  of  all  offices 
and  all  officers  existing  under  such  prior  organization  shall  cease  and  de 
termine  (3)  on  the  first  Monday  of  the  month  succeeding  such  local  elec- 
tion held  under  the  provisions  of  this  Act.    The  first  election  of  officers 

*  A  proper  method  of  procedure  adapted  to  the  local  needs  of  the  State  should  be  provided. 

1.  i.  e.     The  office  where  the  public  records  of  such  corporations  are  required  to  be 
kept,  e.  g.  city  clerk's  or  village  clerk's  office. 

2.  'The  method  of  submission  must  be  set  forth  and  should  be  adapted  to  the  election 
laws  of  the  particular  State. 

3.  If  this  should  shorten  the  term  of  office  contrary  to  constitutional  provisions  a 
different  plan  would  be  necessary. 


CORPORATIONS    ACT,  22/ 


of  the  new  corporation  shall  take  place  on  the  first  day  for  holding  local 
elections,  yvovidec'  by  law,  which  occurs  at  least  sixty  days  after  th'i 
adoption  of  this  act,  provided,  however,  that  if  there  be  no  such  day 
fixed  by  law  for  holding  local  elections,  then  such  first  election*  shall  take 
place  on  the  last  Tuesday  of  the  month  following  such  adojotion. 

Sec.    2.  Annexation  of  Territory. 

Any  city  organized  under  the  provisions  of  this  Act  may  annex  .addi- 
tional territoi-y  contiguous  and  adjacent  to  the  limits  of  said  city  In  the 
following  manner,  and  such  territory  and  the  inhabitants  thereof,  when 
so  annexed,  shall  become  a  part  of  said  city  and  subject  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion thereof. 

Upon  a  — vote  of  the  Council  of  the  city  desiring  the  an- 
nexation of  such  territory,  and  a  petition  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Mayor 
of  the  city  signed  by  qualified  voters  of  said  territory  in  number  equal 
to  two  per  cent,  of  those  voting  at  the  last  preceding  local  election,  the 
question  whether  such  territory  shall  be  annexed  shall  be  submitted  to 
the  qualified  voters  residing  in  said  territory  at  the  next  general  election 
held  therein  at  least  thirty  days  thereafter,  and  in  case  a  majority  of  the 
qualified  voters  residing  in  said  territory  and  voting  on  said  question 
vote  in  favor  of  said  annexation,  the  said  territory  shall  thereupon  be  and 
become  apart  of  said  city,  and  the  public  roads  and  streets  thereof  be- 
come reverts  of  said  city,  and  the  property  and  liabilities  of  any  therein 
existing  local  municipal  coi-poration  or  corporations  shall  belong  to  and 
be  assumed  by  said  city,  and  the  inhabitants  of  said  territory  shall 
become  subject  in  all  respects  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  authorities  of 
said  city,  and  the  jurisdiction  of  any  public  authority  exercised  thereto- 
fore in  said  territory  shall,  so  far  as  it  is  in  conflict  with  the  corporate 
authority  of  such  city,  thereupon  cease  and  determine. 

The  apportionment  of  taxation  for  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  such 
elty  and  of  the  local  municipal  corporation  or  corporations  theretofore 
existing  in  such  annexed  territory  shall  be  adjusted  by commis- 
sioners to  be  appointed  by  the  judges  of  the Court,  who  shall 

also,  in  case  the  territory  annexed  does  not  include  the  entire  territory  of 
an  existing  corporation,  equitably  apportion  the  property  and  liabilities 
of  such  corporation  between  it  and  such  city.  Said  commissioners  shall 
give  public  hearings,  shall  have  power  to  compel  the  attendance  and 
testimony  of  witnesses  under  oath,  and  the  production  of  books  and  pa- 
pers, and  shall  conduct  their  proceedings  according  to  the  rules  that  shall 
be  established  and  published  by  the  judges  of  said  court.  Any  vacancy 
occurring  in  said  commission  shall  be  filled  by  the  remaining  members. 
The  report  of  the  commissioners,  or  a  majority  of  them,  shall  be  filed  in 
the  office  of  the  clerk  of  said  court,  and  shall  be  final  and  conclusive, 
imless  exceptions  are  filed  thereto  witniu  thirty  days  after  tiling.     In 


4.  If  there  is  no  general  law  under  which  such  an  election  can  be  held,  the  Act  should 
include  appropriate  provisions  therefor  in  harmony  with  the  election  system  of  the 
particular  State. 


228  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 

case  of  exceptions,  the  court  appointing  said  commission  shall  have  pow- 
er to  overrule  the  same,  and  confirm  said  report,  or  to  set  the  same  aside 
and  refer  the  matter  bacli  to  the  same,  or  another  commission,  when  the 
same  proceeding  shall  be  had. 

ARTICLE  II. 
OF  THE  POWERS  OF  CITIES 

Section  1.  Corporate  Powers. 

The  inhabitants  of  any  city  incorpoi-ated  under  this  Act  are  hereby  con- 
stituted a  body  politic  and  corporate  which  shall  have  perpetual  succes- 
sion, may  use  a  common  seal,  sue  and  be  sued,  and,  for  iiny  purpose 
Avhich  it  deems  necessary  or  expedient  for  the  public  interest,  perform 
and  render  all  public  services,  and  acquire  property  within  or  without 
the  city  Umits  by  purchase,  gift,  devise,  or  by  condemnation  proceedings, 
and  hold,  manage,  and  control  the  same.  (5) 

Sec.  2.  Powers  of  Ordinance. 

E7ery  city  organized  under  this  Act  shall  have  power  to  enact  and  to 
enforce  all  ordinances  necessary  to  protect  health,  life,  and  property,  to 
prevent  and  summarily  abate  and  remove  nuisances,  and  to  preserve  and 
enforce  the  good  government,  order,  and  security  of  the  city  and  its  in- 
habitants. 

Sec.  3.  Street  I'owers,  Water-works,  Buildings,  and  Sewers. 

Said  city  shall  have  power  to  lay  out,  establish,  open,  close,  alter, 
widen,  extend,  grade,  care  for,  pave,  supervise,  maintain  and  improve 
streets,  alleys,  sidewalks,  squares,  parks,  public  places,  and  bridges,  to 
vacate  the  same,  and  to  regulate  the  use  thereof,  and  to  prescribe  and 
regidate  the  height  of  buildings  adjacent  thereto  or  abutting  thereon, 
and  the  method  and  style  of  construction  of  the  same,  to  vacate  and  close 
private  ways,  and  to  construct  and  maintain  water-works  and  sewers, 
and  to  do  all  things  it  may  deem  needful  or  appropriate  to  regulate,  care 
for  and  dispose  of  sewage,  offal,  garbage,  and  other  refuse. 

Sec.  4.  Wharves,  Docks,  Harbors,  and  Ferries. 

The  city  shall  have  iiower  to  establish,  erect,  maintain,  lease,  and  regu- 
late wharves  and  docks,  charge  wharfage  and  dockage,  regulate  the  use 
of  the  harbor,  and  establish,  lease,  regulate,  and  operate  ferries,  and 
charge  tolls  and  ferriage. 

Sec.  5.  Markets,  Marketplaces,  and  Abattoirs. 

The  city  shall  have  power  to  establish,  lease,  maintain,  regulate,  and 
operate  markets  and  market-places  and  abattoirs. 


5.  It  should  be  provided  that  these  proceedings  should  be  conducted  in  accordance 
with  the  general  law  on  the  subject  if  there  is  one  and  it  is  applicable  ;  or  that  the  necessary 
proceedings  should  be  the  same  as  those  under  which  other  public  or  quasi-public  corpora- 
tions may  act. 


CORPORATIONS   ACT.  229 


Sec.  6.  Charities  and  Correction. 

The  city  shall  have  yjOTver  to  establish,  maintain,  and  regulate  -work- 
houses, houses  of  oovn-cllon,  and  such  other  places  of  incarceration  and 
reformatory  instilutions,  and  such  hospitals  and  charitable  institutions 
as  it  may  deem  exijfdicnt. 

Sec.  7.  Fines,  Penalties  and  Imprisonment. 

The  city  shall  have  power  to  enforce  obedience  to  and  observance  of  its 
ordinances  and  regulations  by  ordaining  reasonable  fines,  penalties,  and 
terms  of  imprisonment. 

Sec.  8.  Schools,  Museums,  Libraries,  and  other  Institutions. 

The  city  shall  have  povper  to  establish  and  maintain  schools,  museums, 
libraries,  and  such  other  institutions  for  the  instruction,  enlightenment, 
and  welfare  of  its  inhabitants  as  it  may  deem  appropriate  or  necessary 
for  the  public  interest  or  advantage. 

The  number,  duties,  and  salaries  of  teachers  and  other  subordinate 
officers  of  such  .institutions  shall  be  fixed  by  the  officer  (or  board)  in 
charge  of  the  educational  administration  of  the  city.  (6) 

Sec.  9.  Minor  Courts. 

The  city  shall  have  the  power  to  establish  minor  courts  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  its  ordinances,  which  shall  also  be  vested  with  the  civil  and 
criminal  jurisdiction  of  (justices  of  the  peace).  7  The  justices  of  such 
comas  shall  be  men  learned  in  the  law,  and  shall  be  appointed  by  the 
Mayor,  and  may  be  removed  by  him  in  the  same  manner  as  officers  in 
the  subordinate  administrative  service  of  the  city.  No  one  shall  be  eligi- 
ble to  appointment  as  such  justice  unless  he  has  been 8  for  at  least 

five  years.  Such  justices  shall  have  within  the  city  in  which  they  have 
been  appointed,  and  in  cases  where  the  alleged  crime  or  misdemeanor 
has  been  committed  within  said  city,  exclusive  jurisdiction  to  issue  all 
warrants,  hear  and  determine  all  complaints,  and  to  conduct  all  exami- 
nations and  trials  in  criminal  cases  that  may  now  be  had  by 7,  and 

shall  have  the  same  power  and  jurisdiction  in  such  criminal  cases  as 7 

6.  The  Committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  local  schools  should  be  under  local  control 
subject  to  a  State  supervision  which  compels  the  local  standard  to  be  fully  equal  to  the  State 
standard,  and  that  so  far  and  so  rapidly  as  practicable  this  result  should  be  accomplished. 
The  Committee  is  aware,  however,  that  there  is  a  great  diversity  of  practice  in  the  diflerent 
States,  and  that  on  account  of  the  deep  popular  interest  in  education  there  is  no  branch  of 
the  public  administration  which  on  the  whole  has  been  so  successful.  It  has  therefore 
seemed  best  to  leave  the  elaboration  of  the  provisions  of  the  draft  relative  to  education  to 
be  made  in  accordance  with  the  local  conditions  of  each  particular  State. 

7.  The  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  of  justices  of  the  peace  is  well  defined  in  some 
States.  Where  it  is  not,  some  other  proper  officer  should  be  designated.  The  intention  here 
is  to  confer  upon  municipal  judicial  officers,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  ordinary  minor  State 
judicial  officers,  such  minor  civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  as  experience  has  shown  should 
be  exercised  by  magistrates  of  this  class.  It  is  probable  that  in  some  States  a  constitutional 
amendment  would  be  required  in  order  to  enact  the  provisions  of  this  section  into  valid  law. 

8.  An  attorney  and  counselor-at-law  of  the  State,  or  some  similar  expression  appropriate 
to  the  particular  State. 


230  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


now  have  by  law  or  as  may  hereafter  beconferred  upon  7,  and 

shall  have  exclusive  jurisdiction  in  all  cases  of  violations  of  such  ordi- 
nances. Such  justices  shall  be  subject  to  the  same  liabilities,  and  their 
judgments  and  proceedings  may  be  reviewed  in  the  same  manner  and  10 
the  same  extent  as  now  by  law  provided  in  the  case  of.  7. 

Sec.  10.  Street  and  Other  Franchises. 

The  rights  of  the  city  in  and  to  its  water  front,  ferries,  wharf  property, 
land  under  water,  public  landings,  wharves,  docks,  streets,  avenues, 
parks,  bridges,  and  all  other  public  places  are  hereby  declared  to  be  in- 
alienable, except  by  a  four-fifths  vote  of  all  the  members  elected  to  the 
Council,  approved  by  the  Mayor;  and  no  franchise  or  lease  or  right  to 
use  the  same,  either  on,  through,  across,  under,  or  over,  and  no  other 
franchise  granted  by  the  city  to  any  private  corporation,  association,  or 
individual,  shall  be  granted  for  a  longer  period  than  twenty-one  years; 
and,  in  addition  to  any  other  form  of  compensation,  the  grantee  shall  pay 
annually  a  sum  of  money,  based  in  amoimt  upon  its  gross  receipts,  to 
the  city.  Such  grant  and  any  contract  in  pursuance  thereof  may  provide 
ttat,  upon  the  termination  of  the  grant,  the  plant  as  well  as  the  property 
if  any,  of  the  grantee,  in  the  streets,  avenues,  and  other  public  places 
shall  thereupon,  without  further  or  other  compensation  to  the  grantee, 
or  upon  the  payment  of  a  fair  valuation  thereof,  be  and  become  the  prop- 
erty of  the  city,  but  the  grantee  shall  be  entitled  to  no  payment  because 
of  any  valuation  derived  from  the  franchise.  Every  grant  shall  specify 
the  mode  of  uetermining  any  valuation  therein  provided  for,  and  shall 
make  adequate  provision  by  way  of  forfeiture  of  the  grant  or  otherwise 
to- secure  efficiency  or  public  service  at  reasonable  rates  and  the  main- 
tenance of  the  property  in  good  order  throughout  the  term  of  the  grant. 
Every  grantee  of  a  franchise  from  the  city  rendering  a  service  to  be  paid 
lor  wholly  or  in  part  by  users  of  such  service  shall  keep  books  of  account 
and  make  stated  quarterly  reports  in  writing  to  the  City  Controller, 
which  shall  contain  an  accurate  statement,  in  summarized  form  and  also 
in  detail,  of  all  financial  receipts  from  all  sources  and  all  expenditures 
for  all  puropses,  together  with  a  full  statement  of  assets  and  debts,  as 
Avell  as  such  other  information  as  to  the  financial  condition  of  such 
grantee  as  the  City  Controller  may  require.  Such  reports  shall  be  public 
records,  and  shall  be  printed  as  a  part  of  the  annual  report  of  the  City 
Controller,  and  said  City  Controller  may  inspect  and  examine,  or  cause 
to  be  inspected  and  examined,  at  all  reasonable  hours,  any  books  of  ac- 
count of  such  grantee.  Such  books  of  account  shall  be  kept  and  such  re- 
ports made  in  accordance  with  forms  and  methods  prescribed  by  the 
City  Controller,  which,  so  far  as  practicable,  shall  be  uniform  for  all  sucii 
grantees. 

The  city  may,  if  it  deems  proper,  acquire  or  construct,  and  may  also  op- 
erate on  its  own  account,  and  may  regulate  or  prohibit  the  construction 
or  operation  of  railroads  or  other  means  of  transit  or  transportation  and 


CORPORATIONS    ACT.  23  I 


methods  for  the  production  or  transmission  of  heat,  light,  electricity,  or 
ether  power,  in  any  of  their  forms,  by  pipes,  wires,  or  other  means. 

Sec.  11.  Contracts  for  Labor  and  Materials. 

No  contract  to  which  the  city  is  a  party  for  services  rendered  or  to  be 
rendered,  or  for  goods  or  materials  furnished  or  to  be  furnished,  shaU  be 
for  a  longer  period  than  five  years.  O) 

All  contracts  except  for  services  rendered  shall  be  made  upon  specifica- 
tions, and  shall  be  let  in  the  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  general  ordi- 
nance. 

In  no  case  shall  the  contract  for  any  material,  machinery  or  process 
which  or  the  supply  of  which,  is  controlled  by  one  person  or  company,  be 
let  with  a  contract  for  work  or  for  other  material  or  machinery. 

No  contract  shall  be  entered  into  until  after  an  appropriation  has  been 
made  therefor,  nor  in  excess  of  the  amount  appropriated. 

Each  contract,  before  being  binding  on  the  city,  must  be  countersigned 
by  the  Controller,  and  charged  to  the  proper  appropriation,  and  when 
ever  the  contracts  charged  to  any  appropriation  equal  the  amount  theie- 
Ci,  no  further  contracts  shall  be  countersigned  by  him. 

Sec.  12.  Taxes. 

Within  its  corporate  limits  the  city  shall  have  the  same  powers  of  taxa- 
tion as  are  possessed  by  the  State.  It  may  license  and  regulate  all  trades, 
occupations,  and  businesses. 

Sec.  13.  Local  Assessments. 

The  city  shall  have  power  to  make  local  improvements  by  special  as- 
sessment, or  by  special  taxation,  or  both,  of  property  adjudged  to  have 
received  special  benefit,  or  by  general  taxation;  the  ascertainment  and 
apportionment  of  the  benefits  derived  from  such  local  imporvements  shail 
be  made  in  accordance  with  State  laws.  No  improvement  to  be  paid  for 
by  special  assessment  or  by  special  taxation  shall  be  undertaken  without 
Ihe  consent  of  a  majority  in  interest  and  number  of  the  owners  of  the 
property  to  be  taxed  or  assessed,  unless  the  ordinance  therefor  shall  re- 
ceive on  final  passage  the  affirmative  vote  of  three-fom-ths  of  all  the 
members  of  the  Council,  and  be  approved  by  the  Mayor  after  a  public 
hearing  of  the  persons  interested,  of  which  due  notice  shall  be  given  by 
advertisement  in  the  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  general  ordinance. 

Sec.  14.  Indebtedness  and  Tax  Rate. 

The  city  shall  have  power  to  borrow  on  the  credit  of  the  corporation, 
and  issue  bonds  therefor  in  such  amounts  and  form,  and  on  such  condi- 
tions as  it  shall  prescribe,  but  the  credit  of  the  city  shall  not  in  any  man- 
ner be  given  or  loaned  to  or  in  aid  of  any  individual,  association,  or  cor- 
poration, except  that  it  may  make  suitable  provision  for  the  aid  and  sup- 
port of  its  poor. 

9.    The  intention  of  this  provision  is  to  prevent  the  city  from  entering  into  any  long- 
term  contracts  except  the  issue  of  long-term  bond?. 


232  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


No  city  shall  become  indebted  for  any  purpose  or  in  any  manner  to  an 

amount  which,  including  existing  indebtedness,  shall  exceed  (10)  per 

centum  of  the  assessed  valuation  of  the  real  estate  within  such  city  sub- 
ject to  taxation  as  shown  by  the  last  preceding  assessment  for  State  or 
city  taxes;  provided,  however,  that  in  determining  the  limitation  of  the 
city's  power  to  incur  indebtedness  there  shall  not  be  included  the  follow- 
ing classes  of  indebtedness: 

(1)  Certificates  of  indebtedness  or  revenue  bonds  issued  in  anticipation 
of  the  collection  of  taxes,  unless  the  same  be  not  paid  within  two  years 
from  the  date  of  issue;  and  all  certificates  of  indebtedness  and  revenue 
bonds  shall  be  pro-^  ided  for  and  payable  from  the  taxes  levied  for  the 
year  in  which  they  are  issued,  and  shall  never  exceed  the  amount  of  such 
taxes; 

(2)  Or  bonds  authorized  by  the  affirmative  vote  of  two-thirds  of  the 
members  of  the  Council,  approved  by  the  Mayor,  and  approved  by  the  af- 
firmative vote  of  the  majority  of  the  qualified  voters  of  the  city  voting 
upon  the  question  of  their  issuance  at  the  next  ensuing  city  election,  for 
the  supply  of  water  or  for  other  specific  undertaking  from  which  the  city 
will  derive  a  revenue;  but  from  and  after  a  period  to  be  determined  by 
the  Council,  not  exceeding  five  years  from  the  date  of  such  election, 
wheuever  and  for  so  long  as  such  an  undertaking  fails  to  produce  suffi- 
cient revenue  to  pay  all  costs  of  operation  and  administration  (including 
interest  on  the  city's  bonds  issued  therefor  and  the  cost  of  insurance 
against  losses  by  fire,  accidents,  and  injuries  to  persons)  and  an  annual 
amount  sufficient  to  pay  at  or  before  maturity  all  bonds  issued  on 
account  of  said  undertaking,  all  such  bonds  outstanding  shall  be  included 
in  determining  the  limitation  of  the  city's  power  to  incur  indebtedness, 
unless  the  principal  and  interest  thereof  be  payable  exclusively  from  the 
receipts  of  such  undertaking.  The  City  Controller  shall  annually  report 
to  the  Council  in  detail  the  amount  of  the  revenue  from  each  such  under- 
taking and  whether  there  is  any,  and,  if  so,  what  deficit  in  meeting  the  re- 
quirements above  set  forth. 

Provision  shall  be  made  at  the  time  of  their  issue  for  raising  a  sum  of 
money,  by  taxation,  sufficient  to  pay,  as  it  falls  due,  the  interest  upon  all 
city  bonds  not  exclusively  payable  from  the  receipts  of  revenue-pro- 
ducing undertakings,  and  to  pay  and  discharge  the  principal  thereof 

•nrithin ii  years  from  the  date  of  their  issue;  but  whenever  in  any 

year  the  receipts  from  any  revenue-producing  undertaking  shall  be  suffi- 
cient to  pay  the  costs  of  operation  and  administration  as  above  dfefined, 
and  the  annual  amount  hereinbefore  required,  the  tax  to  pay  the  interest 
and  provide  for  the  principal  of  the  bonds  issued  for  such  undertaking 
shall  not  be  collected,  and  the  same  shall  be  paid  from  such  receipts. 

10.  The  limitation  is  intended  to  "be  the  one  provided  in  the  State  Constitution.  If  there 
is  no  such  constitutional  provision,  it  should  be  fixed  somewhere  between  five  and  ten  per 
cent.,  as  appears  to  be  proper. 

11.  This  period  should  not,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  exceed  thirty  years. 


CORPORATIONS    ACT.  233 


The  amount  to  be  raised  by  tax  for  city  purposes  upon  real  and  per- 
sonal property  or  either  of  them,  in  addition  to  providing  for  the  prin- 
cipal and  interests  of  the  then  outstanding  bonded  indebtedness  shall  not 

in  the  aggregate  exceed  in  any  one  year per  centum  of  the  assessed 

valuation  of  the  real  and  personal  estate  subject  to  taxation  by  such  city, 
to  be  ascertained  as  hereinbefore  prescribed  in  respect  to  the  city  debt.  12 

Sec.  15.    City  Accounts. 

Every  city  shall  keep  books  of  account.  It  shall  also  malie  stated 
financial  reports  at  least  as  often  as  once  a  year  to  the  13,  in  accord- 
ance with  forms  and  methods  prescribed  by  him,  which  shall  be  ap- 
plicable to  all  cities  within  the  State.  Snch  reports  shall  be  certified  as 
to  their  correctness  by  said  i^  or  by  some  competent  person  or  persons 
appointed  by  him;  they  shall  be  printed  as  a  part  of  the  public  documents 
of  the  State,  and  submitted  by  the  i4  to  the  Legislature  at  its  next  regular 
session.  Such  reports  shall  contain  an  accurate  statement,  in  summarized 
form  and  also  in  detail,  of  the  financial  receipts  of  the  city  from  all 
sources,  and  of  the  expenditures  of  the  city  for  all  purposes,  together 
with  a  statement  in  detail  of  the  debt  of  said  city  at  the  date  of  said  re- 
port, and  of  the  purpose  for  which  such  debt  has  been  incurred,  aa 
well  as  such  other  information  as  may  be  required  by  1*1.  Said 
14  shall  have  power  by  himself  or  by  some  competent  person  or  persons 
appointed  by  him,  to  examine  into  the  affairs  of  the  financial  department 
of  any  city  within  this  State.  On  every  such  examination  inquiry  shall 
he  made  as  to  the  financial  condition  and  resources  of  the  city,  and 
whether  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  have  been  com- 
plied with,  and  into  the  methods  and  accuracy  of  the  city's  accounts,  and 
as  to  such  other  matters  as  the  said  i^  may  prescribe.  The  i4  and  every 
such  examiner  appointed  by  him,  shall  have  power  to  administer  an  oath 
to  any  person  whose  testimony  may  be  required  on  any  such  examina- 
tion, and  to  compel  the  appearance  and  attendance  of  any  such  person 
for  the  purpose  of  any  such  investigation  and  examination,  and  the  pro- 
duction of  books  and  papers.  Wilful  false  swearing  in  such  examinations 
shall  be  perjury,  and  punishable  as  such.  A  report  of  each  such  examin- 
ation shall  be  made,  and  shall  be  a  matter  of  public  record  in  the  office  of 
said.  14 


12.  Under  this  section  a  city  may  issue  long-term  bonds,  establish  and  maintain  a  sink- 
ing fund  sufficient  to  provide  for  their  payment  at  maturity  ;  or  it  may  have  the  bonds  so 
drawn  that  a  certain  number  will  mature  each  year  and  be  paid  from  the  tax  as  collected. 
By  the  latter  method  the  city  avoids  any  risk  incident  to  a  sinking  fund,  the  loss  of  interest 
on  money  not  invested,  any  premiums  it  might  pay  to  buy  back  its  own  bonds,  and  the 
abuses  incident  to  large  accumulations  of  uninvested  money. 

13.  State  Controller  or  other  officer,  or  board  which  may  exercise  supervision  over 
municipal  finances. 

14.  State  Controller  or  other  officer,  or  board  which  may  exercise  supervision  over 
municipal  finances. 


234  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


Sec.  16.     Local  Authority  for  Execution  of  State  Laws. 

Within  its  corporate  limits  every  city  incorporated  under  the  pro- 
visions of  this  Act  shall  be  the  local  agent  of  the  State  government  for 
the  enforcement  of  the  State  laws,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  public 
officers,  except  so  far  as  the  contrary  may  be  provided  by  general  law 
applicable  to  all  the  cities  of  the  State,  is 

Sec.  17.    State  Supervision. 

Every  city  incorporated  imder  the  provisions  of  this  Act  shall,  in  the 
exercise  of  the  powers  herebj"  conferred,  be  subject  to  the  supervision 
and  control  of  such  State  administrative  boards  and  officers  as  may  be 
established  for  this  purpose  bj'  general  laws  applicable  to  all  cities  of  the 
State,  or  may  be  granted  powers  of  supervision  and  control,  by  general 
act  of  the  Legislature  applicable  to  all  cities  within  the  State.  16 

ARTICLE  IIL 
THE  MAYOR. 

Section  1.    The  Term  of  Office. 

The  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city  shall  be  a  Mayor,  who  shall  be  a 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  a  qualified  voter  residing  within  the  city 
limits,  and  shall  hold  his  office  for  two  years,  IT  and  until  his  successor  is 
elected  and  qualified. 

Sec.  2.    Filling  of  Vacancy. 

Whenever  a  vacancy  shall  occur  in  the  office  of  the  Mayor,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Coimcil  shall  act  as  Mayor,  and  shall  possess  all  the  rights 
and  powers  of  the  Mayor,  and  perform  all  his  duties  until  the  next  elec- 
tion, and  until  his  successor  is  elected  and  qualified. 

Sec.  3.    Disability  of  Mayor. 

During  the  temporary  absence  or  disability  of  the  Mayor  the  President 
of  the  Council  shall  act  as  Mayor  pro  tempore,  and  during  such  absence 
or  disability  shall  possess  the  powers  of  the  Mayor  and  perform  his  du- 
ties, except  that  he  shall  not  appoint  or  remove  from  office  any  person  in 
the  administrative  service  of  the  city  unless  such  absence  or  disability 
continues  for  a  period  of  at  least days. 

15.  For  example,  the  city  as  a  corporation,  unless  there  were  a  general  police  system 
applicable  to  all  cities  in  the  State,  would  be  under  this  section  intrusted  with  the  duty  of 
preserving  the  peace. 

16.  For  example,  the  Slate  Board  or  Superintendent  of  Education,  the  State  Board  of 
Health,  the  State  Board  of  Charities. 

17.  Compare  Art.  V.,  Sec.  1.  The  act  contemplates  a  six  years'  term  for  a  member  of 
the  Council,  one-third  of  the  members  going  out  of  office  at  each  bit-nnial  election.  The 
Mayor  is  thus  elected  at  the  same  time  as  one-third  of  the  Council,  and  presumably  they 
will  be  in  political  accord.  The  Mayor  and  one-third  of  the  Council  have  great  power  when 
acting  together.  They  will  practically  control  the  character  of  the  administration  in  many 
important  respects. 

The  biennial  elections  will  enable  the  citizens  effectively  to  review  the  conduct  of  the 
city  administration ;  and  the  terms  of  office  fixed  by  the  Act  will  enable  the  dates  of  city 
elections  to  occur  on  the  usual  election  days  in  November  in  years  alternating  with  State 
and  National  elections,  as  is  done  in  New  York,  thus  avoidingtwo  elections  in  the  same  year. 


CORPORATIONS    ACT.  235 


Sec.  4.    Removal  of  Mayor. 

In  case  of  misconduct,  inability,  or  failure  properly  to  perform  bla 
duties,  the  Mayor  may  be  removed  from  office  by  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  after  being  given  an  opportunity  to  be  heard  in  his  defense. 

The  proceedings  upon  such  removal  shall  be  public,  and  a  full  detailed 
statement  of  the  reasons  for  such  removal  shall  be  filed  by  the  Governor 
in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  shall  be  a  matter  of  public 
record.  The  decision  of  the  Governor  when  filed  with  the  reasons  there- 
for shall  be  final.  And  the  Governor  may,  pending  the  investigation, 
suspend  the  Mayor  for  a  period  of  thirty  days. 

Sec.  5.  Presence  of  Mayor  and  Heads  of  Departments  at  Council  Meet- 
ings. 

The  Mayor  and  the  heads  of  the  administrative  departments  of  tha 
city  shall  have  the  right  to  be  present  and  participate  in  the  proceedings 
of  the  Council,  but  not  to  vote.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Mayor  aod 
of  each  of  the  heads  of  departments  to  attend  the  meetings  of  the  Coun- 
cil when  specifically  requested  by  the  Council,  and  to  answer  such  ques- 
tions relative  to  the  affairs  of  the  city  under  his  management  as  may  be 
put  to  him  by  any  member  of  the  Council. 

Sec.  6.    Veto  Power  of  Mayor. 

Eveiy  ordinance  or  resolution  of  the  Council  shall,  before  it  takes  effect, 
be  presented  duly  certified  to  the  Mayor  for  his  approval.    The  Mayoi 

shall  return  such  ordinance  or  resolution  to  the  Council  within  ■ 

days  after  receiving  it,  or  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  Council  after  the 

expiration  of  said days;  if  he  approve  it,  he  shall  sign  it;  and  if 

he  disapprove  it,  he  shall  specify  his  objections  thereto  in  writing.  If  he 
do  not  return  it  with  such  disapproval  within  the  time  specified,  it  shall 
take  effect  as  if  he  had  approved  it.  In  case  of  disapproval,  the  oi-dinance 

or  resolution  may  be  again  passed  within days  by  the  votes  of  at 

least  of  all  the  members  elected  to  the  Council.     In  case  an 

ordinance  or  resolution  of  the  Council  shall  appropriate  money,  the  Mayor 
may  approve  one  or  more  of  the  items  in  such  ordinance  or  resolution, 
and  disapprove  the  others.  In  such  case  those  which  he  shall  fail  fo  dis- 
approve shall  become  effective,  and  those  which  he  shall  disapprove 
shall  become  effective  only  if  again  passed  as  above  provided. 

Sec.  7.    City  Budget. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Mayor  from  time  to  time  to  make  such 
recommendations  to  the  Council  as  he  may  deem  to  be  for  the  welfare  of 

tbe  city,  and  on  the day  of in  each  year  to  submit  to  the 

Council  the  aoinual  budget  of  current  expenses  of  the  city,  any  item  In 
wliich  may  be  reduced  or  omitted  by  the  Council;  but  the  Council  shall 
not  increase  any  item  in  nor  the  total  of  said  budget,  is 

18.  The  purpose  of  this  provision  is  to  give  the  Mayor,  who  is  the  head  of  the  admin- 
istrative service,  the  power  to  make  up  the  annual  hudget  of  current  expenses,  subject  to 
the  power  of  the  Council  to  reduce  but  not  to  increase  the  proposed  appropriations.  Appro- 
priations for  other  purposes  than  current  expenses  and  for  emergencies  are  provided  for  in 
Art.  v.,  Sec.  10. 


236  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


Sec.  8.    Compensation  of  Mayor. 

The  Mayor  of  any  city  incorporated  under  this  Act  may  be  paid  a  sal- 
ary, the  amount  of  which  shall  be  fixed  by  the  Council;  but  no  Council 
shall  change  the  salaiy  of  any  Mayor  after  his  election. 

ARTICLE  IV. 
THE  ADMINISTRATIVE  SERVICE  OF  THE  CITY. 

Section  1.    Appointive  Officers. 

The  Mayor  shall  have  power  to  appoint  all  heads  of  departments  in  the 
administrative  service  of  the  city,  except  the  City  Controller.  Subject  to 
the  restrictions  and  limitations  hereinafter  contained,  the  Mayor  shall 
have  power  to  appoint  all  officers  and  employees  in  the  subordinate  ad- 
ministrative service  of  the  city,  and  to  fill  all  vacancies  therein,  except 
that  laborers  may  be  appointed  and  removed  by  the  heads  of  departments 
in  which  they  are  employed. 

Sec.  2.    Civil-service  Commissioners. 

The  Mayor  shall  appoint  three  or  more  suitable  persons  to  be  known 
as  Municipal  Civil-service  Commissioners,  who  sail  prescribe,  amend,  and 
enforce  regulations  for  appointment  to,  and  promotion  in,  and  for  ax- 
aminatioiiS  in  the  administrative  service  of  the  city,  including  the  ap- 
pointment and  employment  of  laborers  therein.  Such  Commissioners 
shall  not  hold  any  other  paid  position  in  the  public  service.  The  regula- 
tions and  amendments  thereof  made  under  the  aiithority  of  this  Act,  or  a 
copy  certified  by  the  Secretary  of  said  Commissioners,  shall  be  received 
in  evidence  in  all  courts  and  places. 

Sec.  3.    Civil-service  Regulations. 

Such  regulations  shall,  among  other  things,  provide: 

1.  For  the  classification  of  the  oflices,  places,  and  employments  in  the 
administrative  service  of  the  city. 

Such  classification  shall  be  based  on  the  respective  duties  and  functions 
of  the  offices  and  positions  affected,  and  on  the  amounts  of  the  saHary  or 
other  compensation  attached  thereto,  and  shall  be  arranged  so  as  to  per- 
mit the  grading  of  oflices  and  positions  like  in  character  in  groups  and 
subdivisions,  and  so  as  to  permit  the  filling  of  offices  and  positions  in  the 
higher  grades,  so  far  as  practicable,  through  promotion. 

2.  For  examinations,  wherever  practicable,  to  ascertain  the  fitness  of 
all  applicants  for  appointment  to  the  administrative  service  of  said  city. 
Public  notice  shall  be  given  of  all  examinations,  and  the  Commissioners 
shall  adopt  reasonable  rules  for  permitting  the  presence  of  representa- 
tives of  the  press. 

No  question  in  any  examination  under  the  regulations  established  as 
aforesaid  shall  relate  to  political  or  religious  opinions,  affiliations  or  ser- 
vices, and  no  appointment  or  selection  to  or  removal  from  any  otfice  or 
employment  within  the  scope  of  the  regulations  established  as  afore- 


CORPORATIONS    ACT.  23/ 


said,  and  no  transfer,  promotion,  reduction,  reward,  or  punishment  shall 
be  in  any  manner  affected  or  influenced  by  such  opinions,  affiliations  or 
services.  Such  examinations  shall  be  practical  in  their  character,  and 
shall  relate  to  those  matters  which  will  fairly  test  the  relative  fitness  of 
the  persons  examined  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  positions  to  which 
they  seek  to  be  appointed.  Such  examinations,  save  in  the  case  of  appli- 
cants for  employment  as  ordinary  (not  skilled)  laborers,  shall  be  open, 
competitive  examinations,  except  where,  after  due  efforts  by  previous 
public  advertisement  or  other  effort  in  case  of  extraordinary  emergency, 
competition  is  found  not  to  be  practicable.  The  examination  of  ap- 
plicants for  employment  as  ordinary  laborers  shall  relate  to  their  capacity 
for  labor  and  their  habits  as  to  industry  and  sobriety,  and  shnll  be  ac- 
companied by  such  physical  examination  and  tests,  competitive  or  other- 
wise, as  the;  Commission,  in  its  discretion,  may  determine. 

3.  For  the  filling  of  vacancies  in  the  ofHces,  places,  and  employments 
in  the  administrative  service  of  the  city  which  are  subject  to  competitive 
examination  by  selection  from  a  number  not  exceeding  three  graded  high- 
est as  the  result  cf  such  examination;  and  for  the  selection  of  laborers, 
from  among  those  found  qualified,  on  the  basis  of  priority  of  applica- 
tion. 

In  the  absence  of  an  appropriate  eligible  list,  from  which  appointments 
are  to  be  made,  and  peuciiug  the  preparation  of  such  list,  any  office,  place, 
or  employment  subject  to  cc-nipetitive  examination  may  be  tilled  tem- 
porarily Avithout  such  o.vauiination,  but  not  for  a  longer  period  than 
thij'ty  days.  No  person  shall  bo  appointed  or  employed  under  any  title  not 
appropriate  to  the  duties  to  be  performed,  and  no  person  shall  be  trans- 
ferred to,  or  assigned  to  perform  the  duties  of.  any  position  subject  to 
competitive  examination,  unless  he  shall  have  been  appointed  to  the  posi- 
tion from  which  transfer  is  made  as  the  result  of  an  open,  competitive 
examination  equivalent  to  that  required  for  the  position  to  be  filled,  or 
unless  he  shall  have  served  with  fidelity  for  at  least  five  years  in  a  similar 
position.  A  copy  of  each  list  of  eligible,  with  their  respective  grades, 
shall  be  accessible  to  each  person  whose  name  appears  upon  such  list. 

4.  For  a  period  of  probation  not  exceeding  three  months  before  an  ap- 
pointment or  employment  is  made  permanent. 

5.  For  promotion  from  the  lower  grades  to  the  higher  based  on  merit 
and  competition  and  seniority  of  service. 

An  increase  in  the  salary  or  other  compensation  of  any  person  holding 
an  office,  place  or  employment  within  the  scope  of  the  rules  in  force  here- 
imder  shall  be  deemed  a  promotion. 

No  public  officer  or  employee  shall  be  deemed  or  held  to  be  excluded 
from  the  operation  of  this  Act,  or  from  competitive  examination,  nor 
shall  competitive  examination  be  deemed  or  held  to  be  impracticable,  on 
the  ground  or  for  the  reason  that  any  office,  place  or  employment  or  any 
of  the  duties  thereof,  is  confidential  in  character,  or  by  reason  of  the  fact 
that  fiduciary  responsibility  is  involved,  or  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  any 


238  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


bond  or  security  is  or  sliall  be  required  of  the  appointee;  provided,  now- 
ever,  that  in  advance  of  any  competitive  examination  for  any  office,  place 
or  employment,  the  appointing  officer  may,  where  otherwise  permitted  by 
law,  publicly  prescribe  the  amount  and  the  necessary  details  of  the  bond 
or  security  which  shall  be  required  to  be  given  by  any  such  appointee, 
and  provided  further  that  any  surety  company,  the  bonds  of  which  are 

accepted  by  a  Justice  of Court,  shall  be  a  sufficient  surety 

on  any  such  bond. 

Sec.  4.    Reports  of  Civil-service  Commissioners. 

The  Mimicipal  Civil-service  Commissioners  shall  have  authority  to  em- 
ploy a  secretary  and  such  other  assistance  as  may  be  necessary  for  the 
per.formance  of  their  duties  as  provided  in  this  Act,  and  shall  make  re- 
ports from  time  to  time  to  the  Mayor,  whenever  said  Mayor  may  request, 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  regulations  hereinbefore  provided  for  have 
been  and  are  administered,  and  the  result  of  their  administration  in 
such  city,  and  of  such  other  matters  as  said  Mayor  may  require,  and 

annually,  and  on  or  before  the day  of in  each  year,  shall 

make  a  report  to  the  Mayor;  and  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Mayor  to 
transmit  either  these  reports,  or  a  sufficient  abstract  or  summary  thereof 
to  give  full  and  clear  information  as  to  their  contents,  to  the  Council  an- 
nually on  or  before  the day  of . 

Sec.  5.    Duty  of  Officers  to  Obey  Regulations. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  persons  in  the  public  service  of  the  city  to 
conform  to  and  comply  with  said  regulations  and  any  modifications 
thereof  made  pursuant  to  the  authority  of  this  act,  and  to  aid  and  fa- 
cilitate in  all  proper  ways  the  enforcement  of  said  regulations  and  any 
modifications  thereof,  and  the  holding  of  all  examinations  which  may  be 
required  under  the  authority  of  this  Act  by  said  regulations.  Proper 
provision  shall  be  made  in  the  annual  budget  for  all  the  expenses  of  the 
Municipal  Civil-service  Commissioners. 

Sec.  6.  Roster  of  Administrative  Service.  Payment  of  Public  Em- 
ployees.   Action  to  Restrain  or  Recover  Illegal  Payments. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  Civil-service  Commissioners  to  prepare,  con- 
tinue, and  keep  in  iheir  office  a  complete  roster  of  all  persons  other  than 
ordinary  laborers  in  the  public  service  of  the  city.  This  roster  shall  be 
open  to  inspection  at  all  reasonable  hours.  It  shall  show  in  reference  to 
each  of  said  persons  his  name,  the  date  of  his  appointment  to  or  em- 
ployment in  such  service,  his  salary  or  compensation,  the  title  of  the 
place  or  office  he  holds,  the  nature  of  the  duties  thereof,  and  the  date  of 
any  termination  of  such  service.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  officers  of  the 
city  to  give  to  the  Civil-service  Commissioners  all  the  information  which 
may  be  reasonably  requested,  or  which  the  regulations  established  by 
the  Civil-service  Commissioners  may  require  in  aid  of  the  preparation  oc 
continuance  of  said  roster,  and  so  far  as  practicable  said  roster  shall 
state  whether  any  and  what  persons  are  holding  any  and  what  offices  or 


CORPORATIONS    ACT.  239 


places  aforesaid  in  violation  of  this  act  or  of  any  regulations  made  there- 
under. Said  Civil-service  Commissioners  shall  have  access  to  all  public 
records  and  papers,  the  examination  of  which  will  aid  the  discharge  of 
their  duty  in  connection  with  said  roster.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said 
Commissioners  to  certify  to  the  City  Controller  the  name  of  each  person 
appointed  or  employed  in  the  public  service  of  the  city  (ordinary  laborers 
excepted),  stating  in  each  case  the  title  or  character  of  the  office  or  em- 
ployment, the  date  of  the  commencement  of  service  by  virtue  thereof, 
and  the  salary  or  other  compensation  paid,  and  also,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, the  name  of  each  person  employed  in  violation  of  this  act  or 
of  the  regulations  established  thereunder,  and  to  certify  to  the  said  Con- 
troller in  like  manner  every  change  occurring  in  any  office  or  employ- 
ment of  the  public  service  of  the  city  forthwith  on  the  occurrence  of  the 
change.  No  officer  of  said  city  whose  duty  it  is  to  sign  or  countersign 
warrants  shall  draw,  sign,  countersign,  or  issue,  or  authorize  the  draw- 
ing, signing,  or  issuing  of  any  warrant  or  order  on  any  disbursing  officer 
of  the  city  for  the  payment  of  salary  or  compensation  to  any  person  in 
its  public  service  required  to  be  so  certified  as  aforesaid  who  is  not  so 
certified  as  having  been  appointed  or  employed  in  pursuance  of  this  Act 
or  of  the  regulations  in  force  thereunder.  Any  person  entitled  to  be 
certified  as  aforesaid  may  maintain  a  proceeding  by  mandamus  to  com- 
pel the  issue  of  such  certificate.  Any  sums  paid  contrary  to  the  pro- 
visions of  this  section  may  be  recovei*ed  from  any  disbursing  officer  of 
the  city  pajing  the  same  or  signing,  countersigning,  drawing,  or  issuing, 
or  authorizing  the  drawing,  signing,  or  issuing  of  any  warrant  or  order 
for  the  payment  thereof,  and  from  the  sureties  on  his  official  bond  in  an 

action  in  the  — — Court.    All  moneys  recovered  in  any  action  brought 

under  the  provisions  of  this  section  miist,  when  collected,  after  paying  all 
expenses  of  such  action,  be  paid  into  the  city  treasury. 

Sec.  7.     Records  of  Civil-service  Commissioners.     Their  Duty  to  En 
rorce  Regulations. 

The  said  Commissioners  shall  keep  records  of  their  proceedings;  they 
shall  make  regulations  for  and  have  control  of  such  applications,  regis- 
trations, certifications,  and  examinations  as  are  or  may  be  provided  for 
under  this  Act  and  the  regulations  established  under  their  authority,  and 
shall  cause  a  record  thereof  to  be  kept  and  of  the  markings  and  grad- 
ings  upon  such  examinations;  and  all  recommendations  of  applicants  for 
office  or  employment  received  by  them,  or  by  any  officer  having  authority 
to  make  appointments  or  select  employees  in  the  public  service  as 
classified  by  said  Commissioners,  shall  be  kept  and  preserved  by  said 
Commissioners.  And  all  such  records  and  regulations  shall,  subject  to 
such  reasonable  regulations  as  may  be  made  by  said  Commissioners,  be 
open  to  public  inspection. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Civil-service  Commissioners  to  supervise  the 
execution  of  this  law  and  the  regulations  thereunder,  and  to  see  that  the 
same  be  enforced,  and  they  shall  be  respon.sible  for  correcting  all  abuses 


240  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


and  irregularities  occurring  in  the  administration  of  said  law  and  the 
regulations  thereunder,  and  shall  investigate  all  complaints  in  respect  of 
such  abuses  and  irregularities  made  to  them.  They  shall  supervise  the 
examinations  thereunder  and  the  markings  and  gradings  upon  such 
examinations,  and  shall  keep  themselves  well  informed  concerning  the 
same  in  all  parts  of  the  public  service  to  the  end  that  such  examinations, 
markings,  and  gradings  shall  be  as  uniform  and  just  as  possible. 

Sec.  8.    Power  of  Civil-service  Commissioners  to  Investigate. 

A  majority  of  said  Commissioners  shall  constitute  a  quorum.  The 
said  Commissioners  may  make  investigations  concerning  the  facts  in 
respect  to  the  execution  of  this  Act,  and  of  the  regulations  established 
under  its  authority,  and  in  the  course  of  such  investigations  each  Com- 
missioner and  their  secretary  and  such  other  assistant  as  they  may 
designate  shall  have  the  power  to  administer  oaths.  Said  Commission- 
ers shall  have  power,  for  the  purpose  provided  for  in  this  Act,  to  ex- 
amine into  books  and  records,  compel  the  production  of  books  and 
papers,  subpoena  witnesses,  administer  oaths  to  them,  and  compel  their 
attendance  and  examination,  as  though  such  subpoena  had  issued  from 
a  court  of  record  of  this  State;  and  witnesses  and  officers  to  subpoena 
and  secure  the  attendance  of  witnesses  before  the  said  Commissioners, 
shall  be  entitled  to  the  same  fees  as  are  allowed  to  witnesses  in  civil 
cases  in  courts  of  record.  Such  fees  need  not  be  prepaid,  but  the  proper 
disbursing  officer  of  the  city  shall  pay  the  amount  thereof  when  the  same 
shall  have  been  certified  by  the  president  of  the  Commissioners,  and 
duly  proved  by  affidavit  or  otherwise  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  said  officer; 
and  all  officers  in  the  public  service  and  their  deputies,  clerks,  subordi- 
nates, and  employees  shall  afford  the  said  Commissioners  all  reasonable 
facilities  in  conducting  their  inquiries  specified  in  this  Act,  and  give  in- 
spection to  said  Commissioners  of  all  books,  papers  and  documents  be- 
longing or  in  anywise  appertaining  to  their  respective  offices,  and  also 
shall  produce  said  books  and  papers,  and  shall  attend  and  testify  when 
required  to  do  .so  by  said  Commissioners.  Wilful  false  swearing  in  such 
investigations  and  examinations  shall  be  perjury  and  punishable  as  such. 

Sees.  9-15.  Specific  Prohibitions  and  Penalties  under  the  Civil-service 
Provisions  of  the  Act. 

Sec.  9.  Any  commissioner,  examiner,  or  any  other  person  who  shall 
wilfully  or  corruptly,  by  himself  or  in  co-operation  with  one  or  more 
persons,  defeat,  deceive,  or  obstruct  any  person  in  respect  to  his  or  her 
right  to  examination  or  registration  according  to  any  regulations  pre- 
scribed pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  this  Act,  or  who  shall,  wilfully  or 
corruptly,  falsely  mark,  grade,  estimate,  or  report  upon  the  examination 
or  proper  standing  of  any  person  examined,  registered,  or  certified  ac- 
cording to  any  regulations  prescribed  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of  this 
Act,  or  aid  in  so  doing,  or  who  shall  wilfully  or  corruptly  make  any' 
false  representations  concerning  the  same,  or  concerning  the  person  ex- 
amined, registered,  or  certified,  or  who  shall  wilfully  or  corruptly  fur- 


CORP    RATIONS    ACT.  24 1 


nisli  to  any  person  any  special  or  secret  information  for  tlie  purpose  of 
either  improving  or  injuring  tlie  prospects  or  chances  of  any  person  so 
examined,  registered,  or  certified,  or  to  be  examined,  registered,  or  certi- 
tied,  or  who  shall  personate  any  other  person,  or  permit  or  aid  in  any 
manner  any  other  person  to  personate  him,  in  connection  with  any  ex- 
amination or  registration  or  application  or  request  to  be  examined  or 
registered,  shall  for  each  offense  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor. 

Sec.  10.  No  person  in  the  national  public  service  or  the  public  ser- 
vice of  the  State  or  any  civil  division  thereof,  including  counties,  cities, 
towns,  villages,  and  boroughs,  shall,  directly  w  indirectly,  use  his  au- 
thority or  official  influence  to  compel  or  induce  any  person  in  the  public 
service  of  a  city  to  pay.  or  to  promise  to  pay  any  political  assessment, 
subscription,  or  contribution.  Every  person  who  may  have  charge  or  con- 
trol in  any  building.  6ffice,  or  room,  occupied  for  any  purpose  of  said 
public  service  of  a  city  is  hereby  authorized  to  prohibit  the  entry  of  any 
person  into  the  same,  and  he  shall  not  knowingly  permit  any  person  to 
enter  the  same  for  the  purpose  of  therein  making,  collecting,  receiving. 
•  or  giving  notice  of  any  political  assessment,  subscription,  or  contribution, 
and  no  person  shall  enter  or  remain  in  any  said  office,  building,  or  room. 
or  send  or  direct  any  letter  or  other  writing  thereto  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  notice  of,  demanding,  or  collecting,  nor  shall  any  person  therein 
give  notice  of,  demand,  collect,  or  receive  any  such  assessment,  sub- 
scription, or  contribution;  and  no  person  shall  prepare  or  make  out.  or 
take  part  in  preparing  or  making  out,  any  political  assessment,  sub- 
scription, or  contribution  with  the  intent  that  the  same  shall  be  sent  or 
presented  to,  or  collected  from  any  person  in  the  public  service  of  the 
city,  and  no  person  shall  knowingly  send  or  present  any  political  assess- 
ment, subscription,  or  contribution  to  or  request  its  payment  by  any  per- 
son in  said  public  service. 

Any  person  who  shall  be  guilty  of  violating  any  provision  of  this  sec- 
tion shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor. 

Sec.  11.  Whoever,  being  a  public  officer  or  being  in  nomination  for. 
or  while  seeking  a  nomination  or  appointment  for,  any  public  office,  shall 
use,  or  promise  to  use,  whether  directly  or  indirectly,  any  official  author- 
ity or  influence  (whether  then  possessed  or  merely  anticipated)  in  thp 
way  of  conferring  upon  any  person,  or  in  order  to  secure  or  aid  any 
person  to  secure  any  office  or  appointment  in  the  public  service,  or  any 
nomination,  confirmation,  or  promotion,  or  increase  of  salary,  upon  the 
consideration  or  condition  that  the  vote  or  political  influence  or  action  of 
the  last-named  person  or  any  other  shall  be  given  or  used  in 
behalf  of  any  candidate,  officer  or  political  party  or  associa- 
tion, or  upon  any  other  corrupt  condition  or  consideration,  shall 
be  deemed  guilty  of  bribery  or  an  attempt  at  bribery.  And 
whoever,  being  a  public  officer  or  employee,  or  having  or  claiming 
to  have  any  authority  or  influence  for  or  affecting  the  nomination,  public 
tmployment,  contirrnatiou,  promotion,  removal  or  increase  or  decrease  of 


242  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


salary  of  any  public  officor  or  employee,  shall  corruptly  use,  or  promise 
or  threaten  to  use,  jiuy  such  authority  or  influence,  directly  or  indirectly, 
in  order  to  coerce  or  persuade  the  vote  or  political  action  of  any  citizen, 
or  the  removal,  discharge,  or  promotion  of  any  public  officer  or  public 
employee,  or  upon  any  other  corrupt  consideration,  shall  be  also  guilty  of 
bribery,  or  an  attempt  at  bribery.  And  every  person  found  guilty  of  such 
bribery,  or  an  attempt  to  commit  the  same,  as  aforesaid,  shall,  upon  con 
viction  thereof,  be  liable  to  be  punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  one 
hundred  dollars  or  more  than  three  thousand  dollars,  or  to  be  im- 
prisoned not  less  then  toi  days  or  more  than  two  years,  or  to  both  said 
fine  and  said  imprisonment,  in  the  discretion  of  the  court.  If  the  person 
convicted  be  a  public  officer  he  shall,  in  addition  to  anj'  other  punish- 
ment imposed,  be  deprived  of  his  office  and  be  ineligible  to  any  public 

office  or   employment   for  years   thereafter.      The  phrase    "public 

officer"  shall  be  held  to  include  all  public  officials  in  this  State,  whether 
paid  directl3'  or  indirectly  from  the  public  treasury  of  the  State,  or  from 
that  of  any  civil  division  thereof,  including  counties,  cities,  towns,  vil- 
lages, and  boroughs,  and  whether  by  fees  or  otherwise;  and  the  phrase 
"public  employee"  shall  be  held  to  include  every  person  not  being  an 
officer  who  is  paid  from  any  said  treasury. 

Sec.  12.  No  recontmeudation  of  any  person  who  shall  apply  for  office 
or  place,  or  for  examination  or  registration  under  the  provisions  of  this 
Act,  or  the  regulations  established  under  the  authority  thereof,  except  as 
to  residence  and  as  to  character,  and  in  the  case  of  former  employers 
as  to  the  abilities,  v/hen  said  recommendation  as  to  character  and  abili- 
ties is  specifically  required  by  said  regulations,  shall  be  given  to  or  con- 
sidered by  any  person  concerned  in  making  any  examination,  registra- 
tion, appointment,  or  promotion  under  this  Act  or  under  the  regulations 
established  under  the  authority  thereof.  No  recommendation  or  ques- 
tion under  the  authority  of  this  Act  shall  relate  to  the  poUtical  or  religious 
opinions  or  affiliations  of  any  person  whomsoever. 

Sec.  13.  No  person  in  the  service  of  the  city  is  for  that  reason  under 
any  obligation  to  contribute  to  any  political  fund  or  to  render  any  politi- 
cal service,  and  no  person  shall  be  removed,  reduced  in  grade  or  salary, 
or  otherwise  prejudiced  for  refusing  to  do  so.  No  person  in  the  service 
of  the  city  shall  discharge,  or  promote,  or  degrade,  or  in  any  manner 
change  the  official  rank  or  compensation  of  any  other  person  in  said 
service,  or  promise  or  threaten  to  do  so  for  giving  or  withholding,  or  ne 
gleeting  to  make  any  contribution  of  money  or  service  or  any  other  valu- 
able thing  for  any  pofitical  purpose.  No  person  in  said  service  shall  use 
his  official  authority  or  influence  to  coerce  the  political  action  of  any 
person  or  body,  or  to  affect  or  interfere  with  any  nomination,  appoint- 
ment, or  election  to  public  office. 

Sec.  14.  Whoever,  after  a  regulation  has  been  duly  established  ac- 
cording to  the  provisions  of  this  Act,  makes  an  appointment  to  office  in 
the  public  service  of  the  city  or  selects  a  person  for  employment  therein 


CORPORATIONS   ACT.  243 


contrary  to  the  provisions  of  such  regulation,  or  wilfully  refuses  or  ne- 
glects otherwise  to  comply  with,  or  conform  to,  the  provisions  of  this 
Act,  or  violates  any  of  such  provisions,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor. 

Sec.  15.  Misdemeanors  under  the  provisions  of  this  Act  shall  be  pun- 
ishable by  a  fine  of  not  less  than dollars  nor  more  than 

— dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  for  not  longer  than , 

or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

Sec.  16.    Power  of  Removal. 

No  officer  or  employee  in  the  administrative  service  of  the  city  shall 
be  removed,  reduced  in  grade  or  salary,  or  transferred  because  of  the 
religious  or  political  beliefs  or  opinions  of  such  oflicer  or  employee;  nor 
shall  any  ofiicial  in  the  administrative  service  of  the  city  be  removed,  re- 
duced, or  transferred  without  first  having  received  a  written  statemenr 
setting  forth  in  detail  the  reasons  therefor;  a  duplicate  copy  of  such 
statement  shall  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Civil-service  Commissioners, 
and  at  the  option  of  the  official  who  shall  have  been  removed,  reduced,  or 
transferred,  such  statement  of  reasons,  together  with  the  reply  thereto 
made  by  the  officer  removed,  shall  be  made  a  matter  of  public  record  in 
the  archives  of  the  city.  Subject  to  the  foregoing  provisions  of  this  Act, 
all  persons  in  the  administrative  service  of  the  city  shall  hold  their 
offices  without  fixed  terms  and  subject  to  the  pleasure  of  the  Mayor. 

Sec.  17.    Mayor  May  Investigate. 

The  Mayor  may  at  any  time,  w^ith  or  without  notice,  investigate  in  per- 
son or  by  agent  or  agents  appointed  by  him  for  this  purpose,  the  affairs 
of  any  department  of  the  city  government,  and  the  official  acts  and  con- 
ducts of  any  official  in  the  administrative  service  of  the  city.  For  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  facts  in  connection  with  these  examinations,  the 
Mayor  or  the  agent  or  agents  so  appointed  by  him  shall  have  full  power 
to  compel  the  attendance  and  testimony  of  Avitnesses,  to  administer  oaths, 
and  to  examine  such  persons  as  they  shall  deem  necessary,  and  to  com- 
pel the  production  of  books  and  papers.  Wilful  false  swearing  in  such 
mvestigations  and  examinations  shall  be  perjury,  and  punishable  as 
such. 

ARTICLE  V. 
OF  THE  COUNCIL. 

Section  1.    Council  to  Exercise  Municipal  Powers. 

There  shall  be  a  City  Council  which  shall  have  full  power  and  author- 
ity, except  as  otherwise  provided,  to  exercise  all  powers  conferred  upon 
the  city,  subject  to  the  veto  of  the  Mayor,  as  hereinbefore  provided. 

Sec.  2.    Composition  of  the  Council. 

The  Council  shall  consist  of  20 members,  who  shall  serve  without 

pay,  one-third  of  whom  shall  be  elected  at  each  municipal  election.  The 


20.    At  least  nine  and  not  more  than  fifty,  the  precise  number  being  determined  by  the 
local  conditions  of  each  State. 


244  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


members  of  the  Council  shall  he  elected  on  a  general  ticket  from  the  city 

at  large,  and  shall  serve  from after  their  election.    Tlie  member.? 

of  the  first  Council  elected  under  the  provisions  of  this  Act  shall  be 
divided  by  lot  into  three  classes,  as  nearly  equal  in  number  as  may  be, 
to  hold  ofiice  respectively  for  two.  four  and  six  years,  and  thereafter  at 
each  municipal  election  there  shall  be  elected  members  of  the  Council  to 
take  the  place  of  outgoing  members  for  a  term  of  six  years,  and  to  fill 
the  unexpired  term  any  vacancies  that  may  have  occurred  in  the  respec- 
tice  classes.  21  Outgoing  members  of  the  Council  shall  be  eligible  for  re- 
election. 

Sec.  3.  The  Council  to  be  Judge  of  Election  and  Qualifications  of  Us 
Own  Members. 

The  Council  shall  be  the  judge  of  the  election  and  qualifications  of  its 
own  members,  subject  to  review  by  the  courts. 

Sec.  4.    Ineligibility  of  Councilors. 

No  member  of  the  Council  shall  hold  any  other  public  office  or  hold  any 
office  or  employment  the  compensation  for  which  is  paid  out  of  public 
money;  or  be  elected  or  appointed  to  any  office  created  or  the  compensa- 
tion of  which  is  increased  by  the  Council  while  he  was  a  member  thereof, 
until  one  jear  after  the  expiration  of  the  term  for  which  he  was  elected; 
or  be  interested  directly  or  indirectly  in  any  contract  with  the  city;  or  be 
in  the  employ  of  any  person  having  any  contract  with  the  city,  or  of  any 
grantee  of  a  franchise  granted  by  the  city. 

Sec.  5.  The  Council  Shall  Elect  Its  Own  Officers  and  Determine  Its 
Own  Rules. 

The  Council  shall  elect  its  own  officers:  determine  its  own  rules  of  pro- 
cedure; may  punisn  its  members  for  disorderly  conduct,  and  compel  the 

attendance  of  members,  and,  with  the  concurrence  of  of  the 

members  elected,  expel  a  member.  Any  member  who  shall  have  been 
convicted  of  bribery  shall  thereby  forfeit  his  office. 

Sec.  6.    Quorum  of  the  Council. 

A  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Council  elected  shall  constitute  a 
quorum  to  do  business,  but  a  smaller  number  may  adjourn  from  time  to 
time,  and  may  compel  the  attendance  of  absentees  xmder  such  penalties 
as  may  be  prescribed  by  ordinance. 

Sec.  7.    Council  Meetings. 

The  Council  may  prescribe  by  ordinance  the  time  and  place  of  its 
meetings  and  the  manner  in  which  special  meetings  thereof  may  be 
called.  But  the  Mayor  may  call  a  special  meeting  of  the  Council  at  any 
time  by  previous  written  notice  mailed  to  the  postoffice  address  of  each 

21.  In  states  where  the  conditions  make  it  practicable  to  hold  two  elections  at  different 
times  in  the  same  year  without  suburdiuating  local  questions  to  issues  of  national  or  State 
poUtics,  and  the  interest  of  ihe  voters  iu  public  affairs  can  be  sufflcieiitly  aroused  to  permit 
two  vigorous  political  campaigns  in  the  same  yc  ar,  the  term  of  a  member  of  the  Council 
could  b?  made  three  years,  oncihird  of  the  Council  being  elected  each  year. 


CORPORATIONS    ACT.  245 


member  of  the  Council  at  least  twenty-four  hours  before  such  special 
meeting.  The  Council  shall  elect  one  of  its  own  number  as  president, 
shall  sit  with  open  doors,  shall  lieep  a  journal  of  its  own  proceedings, 
which  shall  be  public  and  printed.  All  sessions  of  committees  of  the 
Council  shall  be  public.  The  Council  shall  act  only  by  ordinance  or 
resolution,  and  all  ordinances  or  resolutious,  except  ordinances  making 
aTipropriatious,  shall  be  confined  to  one  subject,  which  shall  be  clearly 
expressed  in  the  title,  and  ordinances  maldng  appropriations  sliall  be  con- 
lined  to  the  subject  of  appropriations.  The  ayes  and  nays  shall  be  taken 
upon  the  passage  of  all  ordinances  or  resolutions  and  entered  upon  tho 
journal  of  its  proceedings;  and  every  ordinance  or  resolution  shall  re- 
quire on  final  passage  the  affirmative  votes  of  a  majority  of  all  the  mem- 
bers. 

No  ordinance  or  resolution  shall  be  passed  finally  on  the  day  it  is  in- 
troduced, except  in  case  of  public  emergency,  and  then  only  when  re- 
quested by  the  Mayor  and  approved  by  the  atfirmative  votes  of  three- 
fourths  of  all  the  members  of  the  Council. 

Except  in  case  of  such  public  emergency,  each  ordinance  when  intro 
duced  shall  be  referred  to  a  committee  and  printed  for  the  use  of  mem 
bers,  and  shall  not  be  subsequently  so  altered  or  amended  as  to  change 
its  original  purpose.  It  shall  be  reported  to  the  Council  at  the  next 
regular  meeting  thereof,  unless  another  date  be  designated  by  the  Coun- 
cil when  the  reference  is  made,  or  at  a  subsequent  meeting  thei'eof. 

Before  any  grant  of  a  franchise  shall  be  made,  the  proposed  specific 
grant  embodied  in  the  form  of  an  ordinance,  with  all  the  terms  and 
conditions,  including  the  provisions  as  to  rates,  fares,  and  charges,  shall 
be  published  ai  the  expense  of  the  applicant  for  the  franchise  at  least 
twice  in  each  of  two  newspapers  designated  by  the  Mayor,  having  a  gen- 
eral circulation  in  the  city.  Such  publication  shall  take  place  at  least 
days  before  the  final  vote  upon  such  ordinance,  and  such  or- 
dinance shall  require  the  affirmative  vote  of  at  least of  all  the 

members  of  the  Council. 
Sec.  8.    Council  may  Establish  Municipal  Offices. 

The  Council,  except  as  herein  before  provided,  shall  have  power  to 
establish  any  ofllce  that  may  in  its  opinion  be  necessary  or  expedient  for 
the  conduct  of  the  city's  business  or  government,  and  may  fix  its  salary 
and  duties;  but  no  city  official  shall  be  elected  by  popular  vote  except  the 
Mayor  and  the  members  of  the  Council.  The  incumbents  of  all  otiSces 
established  by  the  Council  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Mayor,  as  hereJa 
provided,  except  that  the  Council  may  elect  its  own  oflacers. 
Sec.  9.    The  Council's  Powers  of  Investigation. 

The  Council,  or  a  committee  of  the  Council  duly  authorized  by  it  may 
investigate  any  department  of  the  city  government  and  the  official  acts 
and  conduct  of  any  city  officer;  and  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  facts 
in  connection  with  such  investigation,  shall  have  full  power  to  compel 


246  MUNICIPAL    PROGRAM 


the  attendance  and  testimony  of  witnesses,  to  administer  oaths,  and  to 
examine  such  persons  as  it  may  deem  necessary,  and  to  compel  the  pro- 
duction of  boolis  and  documents.  Wilful  false  swearing  in  such  investi- 
gations and  examinations  shall  be  perjury  and  punishable  as  such. 

Sec.  10.  Coimcirs  Power  to  Regulate  Assessments,  Levy  Taxes  and 
Make  Appropriations. 

The  Council  shall  provide  by  general  ordinance  for  the  appraisement 
and  assessment  of  all  property  subject  to  taxation  and  for  the  collection 
and  enforcement  of  taxes  and  assessments  and  for  penalties  for  non- 
payment thereof.  Such  taxes,  assessments  and  penalties  shall  be  a  lieu 
upon  the  property  affected  thereby  until  paid. 

All  taxes  shall  bo  levied  and  appropriations  made  annually,  not  more 
than  sixty  days  nor  less  than  thirty  days  before  the  date  for  holding 
municipal  elections,  except  such  taxes  as  may  be  levied  and  appropria- 
tions as  may  be  made  to  provide  for  debts  already  incurred  or  continu- 
ing contracts  already  entered  into.  And  except,  also,  in  cases  of 
emergency,  Avhen  on  a  certificate  signed  by  the  Mayor  and  Controller 
that  such  emergency  exists,  a  special  appropriation  may  be  made  to  meet 
the  same. 

Subject  to  the  foregoing,  and  other  provisions  of  this  Act,  the  Council 
shall  have  the  power  to  appropriate  all  money  necessary  to  provide  for 
the  expenses  of  the  city  government,  to  make  special  appropriations,  and 
to  transfer  to  a  different  appropriation  the  unexpended  balance  of  an  ap- 
propriation already  made,  and  not  needed  for  the  completion  of  the  work 
for  which  such  appiopriation  was  originally  made. 

Sec.  11.  Direct  Legislation;  Minority  or  Proportional  or  Other  Form  of 
Representation  in  City  Elections. 

The  Council  of  any  city  now  existing  or  hereafter  created  within  the 
State  may,  with  the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  quaUfied  voters  of  the 
city  voting  thereon  at  the  next  ensuing  city  election  taking  place  not 

less  than days  thereafter,  establish  a  method  of  direct  legislation 

so  that  qualified  voters  of  the  city  may  submit  and  a  majority  tEereof 
voting  thereon  may  decide  by  direct  vote  propositions  relative  to  city 
matters,  and  may  also  in  the  same  manner  establish  minority  or  propor- 
tional or  other  method  of  representation  as  to  elections  to  elective  city 
offices. 

On  a  petition  therefor,  filed  in  the  office  of  the  Mayor,  signed  by  quali- 
fied voters  of  the  city  equal  in  number  to  two  per  cent,  (which  shall  not 
be  less  than  one  thousand)  of  those  voting  at  the  last  preceding  city  elec- 
tion, a  proposition  to  establish  a  method  of  direct  legislation  or  to  Estab- 
lish minority  or  proportional  or  other  method  of  representation  as  to 
elections  to  elective  city  oflices,  must  be  submitted  to  the  qualified  voters 

of  the  city  at  the  next  ensuing  city  election  occurring  at  least days 

thereafter;  if  a  majority  of  such  voters  voting  upon  such  proposition  are 
in  favor  thereof,  such  proposition  shall  go  at  once  into  effect. 


CORPORATIONS    ACT.  247 


ARTICLE  YI. 

The  Cciincil  to  Elect  City  Controller;  his  Powers  and  Duties. 

The  Council  shall  elect,  and  may  by  resolution  remove,  a  Controller 
^^■ho  shall  have  a  general  supervision  and  control  of  all  the  fiscal  affairs 
of  the  city,  to  be  exercised  in  the  manner  which  may  be  by  ordinance 
prescribed.  It  shali  be  his  duty  to  keep  the  books  of  account  and  to 
make  the  financial  reports  provided  for  in  Article  II,  Section  15,  of  this 
Act.  His  books  shall  also  exhibit  accurate  and  detailed  statements  of  all 
'moneys  received  and  expended  for  account  of  the  city  by  all  city  ofiicers 
and  other  persons,  and  of  the  property  owned  by  the  city  and  the  in- 
come derived  therefrom.  He  shall  also  keep  separate  accounts  of  each 
appropriation,  and  of  the  dates,  purpose,  and  manner  of  eacH  payment 
therefrom. 

The  Controller  shall  keep  a  separate  record  for  each  grantee  of  a 
franchise  from  the  city  rendering  a  service  to  be  paid  for  wholly  or  in 
part  by  users  of  such  service,  which  record  shall  show  in  the  case  of  each 
such  grantee: 

1.  The  true  and  entire  cost  of  construction,  of  equipment,  of  main- 
lenance,  and  of  the  administration  and  operation  thereof;  the  amount  of 
stock  issued  if  any;  the  amount  of  cash  paid  in,  the  number  and  par 
value  of  shares,  the  amount  and  character  of  indebtedness,  if  any;  the 
rate  of  taxes,  the  dividends  declared;  the  character  and  amount  of  all 
fixed  charges;  the  allowance,  if  any,  for  interest,  for  wear  and  tear  or  de- 
preciation, all  amounts  and  sources  of  income; 

2.  The  amount  collected  annually  from  the  city  treasury  and  the  char- 
acter and  extent  of  the  service  rendered  therefor  to  the  city; 

3.  The  amount  collected  annually  from  other  users  of  the  service  and 
the  character  and  extent  of  the  service  rendered  therefor  to  them.  Such 
books  of  record  shall  be  open  to  public  examination  at  any  time  during 
the  business  hours  of  the  Controller's  office. 

The  Controller  shall  examine  and  audit  all  bills,  claims,  and  demands 
against  the  city,  and  shall  promptly  report  in  writing  to  the  Mayor  and 
to  the  Council  any  default  or  delinquency  he  may  discover  in  the  ac 
counts  of  any  city  officer. 

The  Controller  may  require  any  person  presenting  for  settleuxent  an 
account  or  claim  for  any  cause  whatever  against  the  city  to  be  sworn  or 
affirmed  before  him,  touching  sucli  account  or  claim,  and  when  so  sworn 
or  affirmed,  to  answer  orally  as  to  any  facts  relative  to  the  justness  of 
such  account  or  claim.  Wilful  false  swearing  before  him  shall  be  per- 
jury, and  punishable  as  such.  He  shall  settle  and  adjust  all  claims  in 
favor  of  or  against  the  city,  and  all  accounts  in  which  the  city  is  con- 
cerned as  debtor  or  creditor,  but  in  adjusting  and  settling  such  claims,  he 
shall,  so  far  as  practicable,  be  governed  by  the  rules  of  law  and  prin- 
ciples of  equity  which  prevail  in  courts  of  justice.  The  power  hereby 
given  to  settle  and  adjust  such  claims  shall  not  be  construed  to  give 


248  MUNICIPAL    PKOGKAM 

such  settlement  and  adjustment  the  binding  effect  of  a  judgment  or  de- 
ci-ee,  nor  to  authorize  the  Controller  to  dispute  the  amount  or  payment  of 
any  salary  established  by  or  under  the  authority  of  any  officer  or  de- 
partment authorized  to  establish  the  same,  because  of  failure  in  the 
due  performance  of  his  duties  by  such  officer,  except  when  necessary  to 
prevent  fraud. 

No  payment  of  city  funds  shall  be  made  except  upon  draft  or  warrant 
countersigned  by  the  Controller,  who  shall  not  countersign  ant  such 
draft  or  warrant  until  he  has  examined  and  audited  the  claim,  and 
fornd  the  same  justly  and  legally  due  and  payable,  and  thsf  the  pay- 
ment has  been  legally  authorized,  and  the  money  therefor  has  been  duly 
appropriated,  and  that  the  appropriation  has  not  been  exhausted. 

The  City  Controller  shall,  on  or  before  the  15th  day  of  Januaiy,  in  each 
year,  prepare  and  transmit  to  the  City  Council  a  report  of  the  financial 
transactions  of  the  city  during  the  calendar  year  ending  the  31st  day  of 
December  22  uext  preceding,  and  of  its  financial  condition  on  said  31st 
day  of  December.  The  report  shall  contain  an  accurate  statement,  in 
summarized  form,  and  also  in  detail,  of  the  financial  receipts  of  the  city 
from  all  sources,  and  of  the  expenditures  of  the  city  for  all  purposes,  to- 
gether with  a  detailed  statement  of  the  debt  of  said  city,  of  the  purposes 
for  which  such  debi  had  been  incurred,  and  of  the  property  of  said  city, 
and  of  the  accounts  of  the  city  v.'ith  grantees  of  franchises. 

ARTICLE  yil. 
GENERAL  PROVISIONS. 

Section  1.    Actions  by  Citizens. 

Any or  more  citizens  who  are  householders  of  said  city  may 

laaiutaiu  an  action  in  the  proper  court  to  restrain  the  execution  of  any 
illegal,  unauthorized,  or  fraudulent  contract  or  agreement  on  behalf  of 
said  city,  and  to  restrain  any  disbursing  officer  of  said  city  from  paying 
any  illegal,  unauthorized,  or  fraudulent  bills,  claims,  or  demands  against 
said  city,  or  any  salaries  or  compensation  to  any  person  in  its  administra 
tive  service  whose  appointment  has  not  been  made  in  pursuance  of  the 
provisions  of  law  and  the  regulations  in  force  thereunder.  And  in  case 
any  such  illegal,  unauthorized,  or  fraudulent  bills,  claims  or  demands,  or 
any  such  salary  or  compensation  shall  have  been  paid,  such  citizens  may 
maintain  an  action  in  the  name  of  said  city  against  the  officer  making 
such  payiuent.  and  the  party  receiving  the  same,  or  either,  or  both,  to 
recover  the  amount  so  paid,  and  such  amount,  after  deducting  all  ex- 
penses of  the  action,  shall  be  paid  into  the  city  treasury,  provided,  how- 
ever, that  the  court  may  require  such  citizens  to  give  security  to  in- 
demnify the  city  against  costs,  unless  the  court  shall  decide  that  there 
was  reasonable  cause  for  bringing  the  action.  The  right  of  any  house- 
holder of  the  city  to  bring  an  action  to  restrain  the  payment  of  eom- 

22.    This  section  nssumes  December  31st  to  be  the  end  of  the  city's  fiscal  year. 


CORPORATIONS   ACT.  249 


pensation  to  any  person  appointed  to  or  holding  any  office,  place  or  em- 
ployment in  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  Act,  shall  not  bs 
limited  or  denied  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  said  office,  place  or  employ- 
men  -shall  have  been  classified  as,  or  determined  to  be,  not  subject  to  com- 
petitive examination;  provided,  however,  that  any  judgment  or  injunc- 
tion granted  or  made  in  any  such  action  shall  be  prospective  only,  and 
fehall  not  affect  payments  already  made  or  due  to  such  persons  by  the 
proper  disbursing  officers. 

In  case  of  any  unsatisfied  judgment  or  any  suit  or  process  of  law 

against  said  city,  and  or  more  citizens  who  are  householders 

of  said  city  shall,  upon  petition,  accompanied  by  affidavit  that  they  be- 
lieve that  injustice  will  be  done  to  said  city  in  said  suit  or  judgment,  be 
permitted  to  intervene  and  inquire  into  the  validity  of  such  judgment  or 
defend  said  suit  or  action,  as  fully  and  completely  as  the  officers  of  said 
city  would  by  law  have  the  right  to  do. 

Sec.  2.     Separate  City  Elections.  23 

Sec.  3.    Nominations. 

Candidates  for  elective  city  offices  shall  be  nominated  by  petition 
signed  by  qualified  voters  of  the  city.  The  number  of  the  signatures  to 
such  petition  shall  be  determined  by  the  Council  of  the  city,  but  no  more 
than  fifty  signatures  shall  be  required.  Such  petition  shall  be  filed  ta  the 
office  of  the  Mayor  at  least  thirty  days  before  the  date  of  the  election; 
provided,  however,  that  in  the  case  of  the  death  or  withdrawal  of  any 
candidate  so  nominated,  such  petition  may  be  so  filed  within  a  less 
period  than  thirty  days.  The  voter  must  vote  separately  for  each  candi- 
date for  whom  he  desires  to  vote;  if  the  election  is  by  ballot  the  Council 
of  the  city  shall  determine  the  form  of  ballot  to  be  used,  but  the  names 
of  all  candidates  for  the  same  office  must  be  printed  upon  the  ballot  in 
alphabetical  order  under  the  title  of  such  office. 

Sec.  4.    Petitions. 

The  petitions  provided  for  in  this  Act  need  not  be  one  paper,  and  may 
be  printed  or  written,  but  the  signatures  thereto  must  be  the  autograpu 
signatures  of  the  persons  whose  names  purport  to  be  signed.  To  each 
signature  the  house  address  of  the  signer  must  be  added,  and  the  signa- 
ture must  be  made  and  acknowledged  or  proved  before  an  officer  author- 
ized by  law  to  take  acknowledgement  and  proof  of  deeds.  The  certifi- 
cate of  such  officer  under  his  official  seal  that  a  signature  was  so  made 
and  acknowledged  or  proved  shall  be  sufficient  proof  of  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  signature  for  the  purposes  of  this  Act.  The  signing  of 
another's  name,  or  of  a  false  or  fictitious  name,  to  a  petition  or  the  sign- 
ing of  a  certificate  falsely  stating  either  that  a  signature  was  made  in  the 
presence  of  the  officer  or  acknowledged  or  approved  before  him,  shall  be 
punishable  as  felonies. 


23.  No  election  for  any  city  office  should  be  held  at  a  time  c-incidinjr  with  the  time  for 
holding  State  or  national  elec;ious.  Proper  provisions  to  accomplish  this  result  should  be 
drawn  in  harmony  with  the  gi-neial  system  of  hoidiug  election^  in  the  particular  State. 


250  BANQUET    SPEECHES. 


BANQUET  SPEECHES. 


The  members  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  their  wives  tendered  the 
officers  and  delegates  of  the  League  and  their  wives  a  banquet  at  the 
Hotel  Chittenden,  Thursday  evening,  November  16,  1899. 

After  the  banquet  had  been  served,  Mr.  O.  A.  Miller,  President  of  the 
Columbus  Board  of  Trade,  called  the  guests  to  order  and  said: 

The  Columbus  Board  of  Trade  stands  for  what  is  best  in  this  com- 
munity and  we  deem  it  an  honor,  an  unusual  honor,  to  have  as  our 
guest  on  this  occasion  the  distinguished  body  now  assembled  with  us. 
There  have  been  provided  for  you  this  evening  distinguished  speakers, 
so  that  I  will  not  take  your  time,  but  proceed  to  introduce  the  Toast- 
master  for  the  evening,  Hon.  David  F.  Pugh. 

Judge  Pugh:  Members  of  the  National  Municipal  League,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen  of  the  City  of  Columbus— I  do  not  believe  that  it  is  the  func- 
tion of  the  toastmaster  to  make  a  speech;  it  is  his  duty  to  introduce  the 
makers  of  the  speeches.  But  the  members  of  this  League  will  pardon 
me  for  a  few  moments  for  addressing  some  remarks  to  those  present 
who  are  not  members  of  the  League  touching  this  organization.  I  will 
not  encroach  upon  the  territory  of  the  first  speaker,  because  what  I  shall 
say  modesty  would  forbid  him  saying. 

The  members  of  the  National  Municipal  League  are  sincere  and  earn- 
est men.  They  are  men  of  note  leading  in  the  great  work  of  the 
improvement  of  the  government  of  American  cities  and  towns.  They 
are  profound  thinkers  on  the  municipal  problem.  They  have  dedicated 
J  ears  of  time  and  thought  and  spent  freely  of  their  fortunes,  whether 
small  or  large,  in  helping  to  solve  this  problem.  They  are  not  mere 
theorists  and  vapid  sentimentalists.  They  are  practical  men,  men  hav- 
ing knowledge  and  experience  of  practical  affairs. 

All  the  acts  of  heroism  hive  not  been  performed  by  soldiers  on  burn- 
ing battlefields.  There  has  been  just  as  beautiful  heroism  displayed  in 
quiet  and  peaceful  lives.  The  members  of  this  National  Municipal 
League  have  for  several  years  been  engaged  and  are  now  engaged  in  a 
heroic  work.  They  ought  to  be  estimated  as  heroic  figures  in  our  con- 
temporary history.  No  other  body  of  men  have  done  as  much  as  they 
have  in  emancipating  the  cities  and  towns  of  this  country  from  pax-tisan 
perversions  and  bad  and  inefficient  government.  Their  work  has  also 
been  educational.  It  has  helped  to  educate  the  people  as  to  where  the  re- 
sponsibility lies  for  the  ills  that  have  been  troubling  the  cities  and  towns 
of  this  country  for  years.  They  have  helped  to  educate  and  lift  up  the 
purposes  and  moral  sense  of  cities  touching  municipal  questions.  They 
believe  with  the  great  French  student  that  a  nation  without  the  spirit 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  2$  I 


of  municipal  institutions  is  without  the  spirit  of  liberty.  By  their  labors 
and  sacrifices  they  will  win  a  triumph  that  is  worth  living  and  dying 
for;  and  I  believe  that  will  be  the  verdict  of  history. 

But  I  am  not  going  to  make  a  speech.  It  would  be  a  work  of  supere- 
rogation, my  friends,  in  introducing  the  first  speaker  to  tell  you  who  he 
is.  To  all  intelligent  men  of  this  country  it  is  known  that  he  is  one  of 
the  great  leaders  of  the  American  Bar.  Neither  in  this  or  the  Old  World 
is  there  any  lawyer  superior  to  him.  In  his  presence  I  feel  very  much 
as  Prentiss  expressed  himself  when  he  stood  in  the  presence  of  Henry 
Clay  and  was  asked  to  make  a  speech.  He  said:  "When  the  eagle  is 
flying  about,  the  bats  ought  to  be  in  their  holes." 

I  say  not  perfunctorily  but  sincerely  that  it  is  a  great  honor  and 
pleasure  to  introduce  to  you  the  first  speaker  of  the  evening,  who  will 
respond  to  the  toast,  "The  National  Municipal  League,"  the  Hon.  James 
C.  Carter,  of  New  York  City. 

President  Carter:  Mr.  Toastmaster,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen— I  feel 
personally  and  on  behalf  of  the  National  Municipal  League,  of  which 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  President,  very  much  gratified  at  the  reception 
which  has  been  given  to  me.  I  am  very  much  obliged  to  you,  sir,  (turn- 
ing to  Toastmaster)  for  the  terms  in  which  you  have  spoken  of  the 
National  Municipal  League,  heartily  obliged  for  the  pinnacle  of  exalta- 
tion upon  which  you  have  placed  my  humble  self. 

I  am  glad  to  perceive  that  you  have  a  right  and  proper  conception 
of  the  purpose  and  work  of  the  Municipal  League.  I  have  sometimes 
felt  myself  that  a  certain  degree  of  suspicion  is  attached  to  those  who 
profess  themselves  zealously  interested  in  some  great  public  work  and 
are  found  gathering  in  meetings  where  there  is  no  money  to  be  made  or 
anything  of  that  kind,  and  interesting  themselves  in  what  they  suppose 
to  be  the  public  welfare.  It  sometimes  seems  to  be  the  thought  among 
Ibe  good  and  solid  people  that  these  circumstances  affoi-d  evidence  of 
lightness  of  intellect,  and  they  are  rather  disposed  to  regard  such  in  the 
light  of  "cranks."  I  am  glad  to  see,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  that  you  are  not 
under  such  a  hallucination. 

We  are  not  cranks  gathered  together  for  argument  of  a  fad;  we 
are  business  men  and  professional  men,  regularly  engaged  in  the  ordin- 
ary pursuits  of  life,  who  happen  to  feel  very  gravely  concerned  over 
vfhat  we  conceive  to  be,  and  which  all  will  agree  to  be,  the  very  low  and 
degraded  condition  of  our  city  government.  I  say  degraded,  yes,  I 
may  use  so  strong  a  word  as  that  of  the  municipal  government  in  this 
country.  We  feel  that  it  forebodes  great  evil  unless  the  condition  is 
checked  and  unless  municipal  government  is  improved. 

There  are  many  things  in  this  country  of  which  we  have  just  reason 
to  be  proud,  proud  of  the  magnificent  extent  of  the  country,  of  its 
national  resources  of  every  description;  proud  of  the  bounty  of  nature 
with  which  it  is  blessed  over  and  above  that  of  any  other  nation  of 
the  world;  proud  of  its  independence;  of  its  vast  manufacturing  Indus- 


252  BANQUET    SPEECHES. 


tries  and  its  enormous  product;  and  proud  of  its  prodigious  commerce. 
"We  are  proud  also  of  its  institutions;  proud  of  our  national  government 
and  glorious  Constitution;  proud  of  our  State  government  aBd  the  posi- 
tion they  till  in  this  complicated  system  of  ours.  But  there  are  some 
things  we  are  not  so  proud  of;  of  which  we  cannot  be  so  proud.  When 
we  call  to  mind  the  condition  of  the  government  of  our  large  cities,  T 
say  large  cities.  I  might  almost  say  the  government  of  almost  alj  our 
cities,  when  we  contemplate  the  low  condition  in  which  we  find  them, 
we  see  something  thex-e  we  cannot  be  proud  of.  In  almost  all  the  cities 
of  the  country,  except  Columbus  (laughter)— and  yet  as  I  walked  about 
the  streets  of  Columbus  this  morning  (I  thought  I  would  take  a  look  at 
it,  it  being  my  first  visit  to  it)  I  thought  even  in  Columbus  there  were 
places  in  which  a  broom  or  two  extra  might  with  advantage  be  em- 
ployed, a  place  or  two  here  and  there  where  the  natural  earth  was  easily 
persuaded  into  mud,  might  with  advantage  be  covered  with  a  pavement, 
things  of  that  sort,  so  that  a  scrupulous  observer  might  find  even  in 
Columbus  places  where  improvement  could  with  advantage  be  applied, 
but  in  the  larger  cities  (well,  Columbus  is  a  very  large  city),  but  in  our 
larger  cities  the  condition  at  times  is  too  much  almost  for  human  con- 
templation. 

These  things  have  engaged  the  public  attention  to  a  gi-eater  or  less 
extent,  as  you  are  all  aware,  for  many  years.  They  were  the  gi'ound.^ 
upon  which  this  Association  was  formed.  The  Association  consists 
of  a  company  of  men  and  affiliated  societies  (more  than  a  hundred  now) 
Interested  in  the  great  work  of  securing  some  improvement  in  municipal 
conditions.  Their  expectations,  they  are  not  over-sanguine;  they  know 
the  work  is  a  great  one  and  necessarily  a  slow  one;  they  know  the  pro- 
digious extent  and  weight  of  the  evil  influences  against  which  they  are 
obliged  to  contend,  and  experience  has  taught  them  that  they  must  be 
satisfied  with  a  very  moderate  degree  of  improvement  and  a  very  slow 
progress  of  improvement.  But  if  that  can  be  brought  about,  if  we  can 
put  ourselves  on  the  march  of  progress,  if  we  can  ascend  from  bad  to 
something  less  bad.  if  we  can  take  step  after  step  upward,  we  will  be 
abundantly  satisfied.  The  goal  may  be  very  far  distant,  it  is  certain  to 
be  very  far  distant,  but  our  faces  are  turned  toward  that  goal  and  it  is 
sufficient  to  say  we  are  advancing  on  that  goal.  However  slowly,  we 
are  yet  advancing. 

Now,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  you  have  introduced  me  and  introduced  this 
subject  of  municipal  reform  in  a  way  which  leads  me  to  trespass  upon 
your  attention  for  a  few  words  in  connection  with  it.  Coming,  as  I 
have,  one  thousand  miles  to  attend  this  meeting,  thinking  of  nothing 
else,  trying  for  nothing  else— how  can  I  speak  of  anything  else? 

Now,  in  a  single  word  as  to  what  the  causes  are  of  this  decline  in 
municipal  government.  What  are  the  x-easons  why  this  gx-eat,  wealthy, 
intelligent  people  of  ours  cannot  have  suitable  goveniment?  Is  it  be- 
cause they  do  not  have  the  necessary  intelligence?    Is  it  because  they  can- 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  253 


not  comprehend  the  great  problem  of  municipal  government?  Is  it  be- 
cause there  are  not  men  in  the  community  of  intelligent  public  spirit 
enough  to  talie  hold  of  the  work?  Certainly  not.  We  boast  that  our 
intelligence  is  greater  than  that  of  any  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
and  I  suppose  there  is  some  reason  for  it.  Is  it  because  we  are  unwilling 
to  pay  the  price  to  mali;e  our  cities  what  they  ought  to  be?  No;  very 
far  from  it.  On  the  contrary,  we  are  resting  under  a  weight  of  taxation 
such  as  is  exhibited  no  where  else  on  the  face  of  the  glO'be.  Money  is 
poured  out  with  such  profusion  here  that  there  would  be  an  abundance, 
if  properly  applied,  to  supply  every  land  with  every  advantage  aud  im- 
provement and  adorn  them  with  all  the  marvels  of  architecture  and 
art;  yet  we  do  not  have  them.  Take  in  New  York;  we  have  a  public 
indebtedness  of  $2.50.000,000,  debt  incurred  for  political  objects  over  and 
above  what  is  annually  paid.  Aud  the  amount  annually  raised  by  taxa- 
tion and  which  finds  no  representation  in  the  debt,  almost  surpasses  the 
imagination.  What,  Mr.  Chairman,  do  you  suppose  it  to  be  at  this 
moment,  the  amount  of  money  raised  annually  by  taxation,  drawn  from 
the  reluctant  pockets  of  the  people  every  year  for  purposes  of  municipal 
government— between  eighty  and  ninety  millions  of  dollars;  nearly  a 
fifth  of  the  entire  annual  expenditure  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  drawn  annually  by  taxation  from  the  people  of  the  city  of  New 
York;  and  in  addition  to  that  the  debt  at  this  time  amounting  to  .$250,- 
000,000!  And  imagine  that  at  least  one  hundred  millions  of  that  repre- 
sents money  entirely  wasted  or  fraudulently  applied. 

Vv'hy,  if  we  take  the  aggregate  amount  of  expenditures  made  in  coi-- 
stituting  all  the  public  libraries  of  the  land,  all  the  zoological  gardens, 
public  parks,  and  everything  of  that  nature  designed  for  amusement, 
health  and  recreation  of  the  people— put  it  all  together  and  it  would  not 
amount  to  nearly  the  sum  of  one  hundred  million  dollars!  Only  think 
of  the  facilities  and  advantages  we  might  have  enjoyed  if  the  money 
had  been  properly  expended! 

We  see  it  is  neither  lack  of  intelligence  for  municipal  government, 
ncr  hesitation  to  expend  the  money  necessary  for  securing  it.  What  is 
it,  then? 

Do  we  find  in  the  actual  government  of  our  cities  generally  that  the 
best  intelligence  is  selected  and  placed  at  the  head?  No;  we  do  not. 
On  the  conti-ary,  we  find  ignorance,  to  a  large  extent,  everywhere  in 
control;  waste  and  extravagence  everywhere,  and  what  is  worse  than 
all,  fraudulent  disposition  and  embezzlement  of  public  funds  for  pi-ivatc 
gain.  Now,  this  is  the  spectacle  presented,  and  what  is  the  true  reason 
for  it  if  it  is  not  the  lack  of  intelligence  nor  niggardly  economy?  What 
is  it?  Because  we  do  not  strive  for  it,  I  suppose.  I  believe  it  is  true  of 
every  human  object,  in  every  object  which  men  place  before  them  and 
which  human  effort  is  capable  of  obtaining,  it  will  always  be  obtained  if 
striven  for.  And  it  is  equally  true  that  we  will  certainly  never  gain  an 
object  we  do  not  strive  for. 


2  54  BANQUET    SPEECHES. 


The  end  in  view  by  those  who  happen  to  be  in  charge  of  the  muni- 
cipal government  of  our  cities  is  not  good  government.  That  is  not 
the  object  they  are  after;  it  is  something  else.  And  as  that  is  not  the 
object  they  are  after,  of  course  they  will  not  attain  it. 

What  is  it  they  are  after,  if  they  are  not  after  good  municipal  gov- 
ernment? Well,  to  a  very  large  extent  they  are  after  their  own  private 
emolument,  the  expenditure  of  enormous  sums  of  money  which  can 
be  turned  to  private  account.  Another  thing  in  close  connection  with 
that  is  the  disposition  made  of  the  great  public  franchises,  the  operation 
cf  which  in  themselves  does  lieep  and  does  produce  enormous  profits. 
They  are  all  in  the  hands  of  private  individuals.  Sometimes  they  make 
good  use  of  the  franchise  acquired  and  sometimes  not  such  gooa  use; 
but  it  is  all  in  their  hands  for  the  benefit  of  the  private  proprietor.  Fran- 
chises worth  millions  have  been  disposed  of  for  little  or  nothing. 

That  is  one  of  the  objects  to  which  municipal  government  is  per- 
verted, made  instrumental,  and  particularly  instrumental  for  private 
and  personal  gain. 

Another  still  more  important,  far  more  powerful  object  is  the  political 
advantage  acquired  by  the  fortunes  of  our  cities.  These  are  very  great. 
Whoever  is  able  to  control  to  any  considerable  extent  what  may  be  called 
the  ignorant  vote  of  the  country  has  an  enormous  power  in  his  hands. 
It  is  not  so  easy  to  control  in  the  I'ural  districts,  but  where  the  people 
are  gathered  in  great  masses  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  control  them 
there.  The  ignorant,  less  educated  classes,  the  laboring  classes,  and 
we  must  add  to  them  the  criminal  classes,  are  separated  from  the  rest 
of  the  population  by  a  very  wide  gulf  which  it  is  vei-y  difficult  to  pass. 
ilJreat  attempts  have  been  made  to  pass  it,  and  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
the  attempts  were  not  as  gratifying  as  they  ought  to  be.  Consequently 
the  influence  over  the  ignorant  vote  is  comparatively  nothing,  and  it  is 
left,  therefore,  to  dispose  of  by  those  that  make  it  a  business  to  dispose 
of  it;  and  it  has  long  been  the  habit  of  both  political  parties  to  endeavor  to 
secure  to  these  political  parties  in  State  and  national  politics  as  much  of 
this  ignorant  vote  as  they  can.  People  have  great  ambitions,  they  desire 
to  he  President,  Senators,  Representatives  in  Congress,  and  these  offices 
are  obtained,  as  politics  go,  things  are  now,  by  the  power  of  the  political 
chiefs  under  them  who  control  this  ignorant  vote;  and  consequently  there 
is  a  tacit  understanding  between  the  chiefs  of  the  political  parties  and 
the  smaller  political  chiefs  in  the  cities,  if  they  will  give  the  city  vote  or 
as  large  a  portion  as  they  can  control  to  the  political  party  to  which  they 
belong,  they  shall  have  the  benefit  of  the  patronage  of  the  mulnicipal 
government;  and,  therefore,  with  the  offices  and  patronage  goes  the 
government  of  the  cities,  and  it  goes  into  the  hands  of  the  smaller  poli- 
ticians in  the  way  indicated. 

The  power  of  these  influences  is  almost  beyond  couception,  not  all 
of  it  altogether  bad.  A  large  number  of  the  men  connected  with  muni- 
cipal politics  have  the  ordinary  ambitions  of  men  in  politics;  they  like 


JAMES    C.    CARTER.  255 


to  lead,  like  to  control  in  public  affairs.  This  is  rather  praiseworthy,  but 
it  is  apt  to  degenerate  into  the  desire  for  plunder,  though  it  dioes  not 
need  to.  But  it  makes  the  temptation  very  strong  and  hard  to  struggle 
against.  So  the  objects  of  those  placed  in  control  of  the  fortunes  of  our 
cities  is  not  to  secure  good  government  but  to  aid  their  personal  interests 
and  those  of  the  party  to  which  they  belong.  And  so  the  fortune  and 
prosperity  of  our  city  government  are  everywhere  subject  to  these  very 
adverse  conditions,  and  as  long  as  they  are  so  subject  it  is  impossible  to 
put  them  in  any  creditable  shape  whatever. 

Now,  these  are,  as  I  think,  and  I  suppose  there  is  general  agreement 
in  the  matter,  the  principal  grounds  and  reasons  which  render  the  condi- 
tions of  our  city  government  as  bad  as  they  are  at  the  present  moment 
and  what  we  have  to  struggle  against. 

What  are  the  remedies  for  it?  As  you  have  said,  Mr.  Chairman,  this 
is  a  subject  which  has  excited  great  attention  everywhere.  We  do  not 
pretend  ourselves  to  have  penetrated  this  problem  any  deeper  than  other 
people  who  have  given  it  the  same  amount  of  study.  AVe  see  but  two 
methods  by  which  the  evil  can  be  cured  and  municipal  government  im- 
proved. The  first  is  by  arousing  interest  everj^where  in  the  subject 
greater  than  at  present  expressed— interest  everywhere,  among  the  men 
and  women.  I  am  glad  the  ladies  are  here  to-night  in  order  that  I  may 
lay  before  them  the  opportunity  they  have  to  engage  in  this  work  for 
which  they  are  peculiarly  fitted.  Our  cities  are  households.  In  the 
rural  districts  a  man's  home  is  his  hoiise;  in  the  city  the  whole  city  is 
your  home,  your  dooryard,  and  you  feel,  should  feel,  ought  to  feel  its 
appearance,  its  conveniences,  its  order,  its  beauty,  are  things  in  which 
you  are  as  much  concerned  as  in  the  convenience,  oi'der  and  beauty  of 
your  own  houses.  Much  can  be  done  by  the  women  in  arousing  and 
m.aintaining  an  interest  in  this  work.  It  is  by  arousing  interest  in  the 
commuuitj^  and  sustaining  the  interest  that  it  is  expected  that  great  im- 
provement can  be  brought  about.  In  the  city  of  New  York— we  are  the 
worst  in  the  world,  and  you  know  how  bad  we  are  if  you  read  the  news- 
papei*s— in  New  York  we  have,  I  think,  take  it  all  through,  a  very  low 
degree  of  iutelligeuce  and  ability  on  the  part  of  the  public  officers,  a  set 
of  men  who,  if  left  Avithout  any  suggestions  from  others  outside  of 
themselves  would  not  perform  any  of  their  duties  in  any  decent  manner 
whatever;  and  that  is  the  history  of  the  performance  of  municipal  duties 
in  New  York  in  the  past;  but  we  have  found  there  in  proportion  as  this 
interest  is  aroused  and  exhibited  by  the  citizens,  and  especially  in  so  far 
as  that  aroused  interest  finds  its  expression  in  public  efforts  to  over- 
throw these  men  and  establish  better  government,  that  they  improve. 
Several  years  ago  there  was  an  opposition  of  citizens  to  Tammany  Hall 
and  they  were  successful  and  placed  Mayor  Strong  in  the  chair  of  the 
Chief  Executive.  He  was  a  very  excellent  man,  but  he  could  do  com- 
paratively little  because  be  was  greatly  hampered  in  making  a  selection 
of  officials.    But.  nevertheless,  a  great  deal  was  accomplished,  and  in 


256  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


one  particular  was  very  observable  to  strangers.  Our  streets  had  been  in  a 
very  wretched  condition.  A  new  man,  a  vei-y  excellent  man— Colonel 
■Waring,  whose  melancholy  death  we  so  much  deplore— was  put  at  the 
head  of  the  street  department.  He  instituted  reforms  and  our  streets 
were  clean,  and  New  York  in  external  appearance  was  as  fine  as  any  city 
in  this  country,  perhaps  in  Europe.  This  was  accomplished  by  one  man, 
sustained  by  this  aroused  public  sentiment. 

At  the  next  election  this  reform  movement  failed,  so  hard  it  is,  so 
difficult,  so  almost  impossible  to  keep  up  to  a  great  height  an  aroused 
public  interest.  At  any  rate,  Tammany  Hall  was  successful.  Colonel 
Waring  was  displaced. 

Did  the  streets  relapse  into  their  former  condition?  No;  Tammany 
Hall  did  not  dare  to  do  that.  It  knew  that  the  citizens  of  New  York 
has  been  accustomed  to  the  spectacle  of  clean  streets  and  would  not 
stand  that.  Therefore  it  was  made  an  object  by  his  successor  to  keep 
the  streets  in  the  same  order  in  which  they  were  under  Colonel  Waring's 
superintendency.  So  we  still  have  them  not  so  good,  not  so  clean  as 
under  Colonel  Waring,  but  far  cleaner  than  formerly,  and  that,  too, 
under  Tammany  Hall.  And  Tammany  Hall  under  this  aroused  senti- 
n.ent  has  ceased  to  be  what  it  was  twenty-five  or  more  years  ago,  and 
though  the  men  are  the  same,  they  fear  public  sentiment,  they  are  afraid 
of  it.  They  know  that  they  have  to  give  a  certain  amount  of  decency  to 
the  government  or  again  receive  a  summons  of  dismissal. 

That  is  one  great  method  by  which  this  reform,  as  other  gi-eat  re- 
forms, is  to  be  carried  on  by_  exciting  public  feeling  eveiywhere;  and 
you  must  all  admit  that  it  is  your  duty,  your  personal  duty,  your  absolute 
duty,  to  take  an  interest  and  a  deep  interest  in  this  movement  and  do 
all  that  in  us  lies  to  improve  the  condition  of  om-  cities. 

There  is  one  other  method  by  which  some  improvement  can  be  ef- 
fected and  that  is  in  the  organization  of  our  cities  under  the  law;  1 
mean  under  the  proper  constitution  of  legal  power  conferred  by  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  upon  the  cities,  and  the  proper  arrangement  and 
division  of  the  officers  who  are  to  exercise  that  legal  power.  In  other 
words,  the  contrivance  of  a  perfect  city  charter  for  the  carrying  on  of 
a  city  government. 

What  is  a  city?  We  sometimes  think  of  a  city  as  a  great  collection 
of  buildings  and  people.  That  is  the  physical  conception  of  a  city. 
What  is  a  city?  It  is  not  physical  at  all.  A  city  is  a  corporation  govern- 
ment and  has  many  methods  by  which  it  may  accomplish  its  ends. 

Take  your  State,  Ohio;  it  was  originally  the  duty  of  that  government 
to  secure  good  government  all  over  the  State  and  in  every  part  and 
corner  of  it.  That's  the  duty  of  a  State  government.  In  the  discharge 
cf  that  duty,  however,  it  finds  that  it  can  best  be  perfonued  if  it  Avill 
trust  the  duties  which  concern  a  small  community,  living  in  a  small 
area  and  which  does  not  concern  the  people  generally  of  the  State,  to  the 


JAMES    C.    CARTER,  257 


citizens  of  the  locality,  and  a  city  is  incorporated  for  carrying  on  local 
government.  Now,  much  depends  upon  the  sort  of  charter,  which  is  the 
statement  of  powers  and  authority  which  the  city  may  exercise,  and  of 
the  various  officers  that  may  be  elected  to  exercise  the  authority. 

Now,  not  one  of  us  think  that  a  good  city  charter  is  of  itself  sufficient 
to  secure  good  city  government.  We  know  that  alone  and  unaided 
U  may  have  a  bad  effect.  "Whatever  is  best  administered  is  best." 
A  great  many  city  charters  have  been  tinkered  with  from  time  to  time, 
and  tinkered  with  in  veiy  important  ways  and  for  improper  purposes 
In  such  a  manner  that  they  advance  the  progress  of  the  mischief  so 
much  more,  and  make  it  difficult  for  even  good  officers  to  properly 
discharge  their  own  duties.  Therefore  it  is  highly  important  that  a  good 
charter  should  be  provided  for  city  government,  and  to  that  the  National 
^lunicipal  League  has  given  much  attention.  Its  labors  in  that  direction 
are  drawing  to  a  close  and  the  final  draft  of  the  charter  will  probably 
be  approved  at  this  Conference;  and  if  it  should  fortunately  be  adopted 
in  the  various  cities  in  the  land  we  expect  considerable  advantage  will 
follow  from  it. 

Now,  it  is  impossible,  of  course,  for  the  Municipal  League,  by  any 
work  which  it  can  accomplish,  to  raise  and  maintain  this  interest  in  good 
city  government  in  the  people  generally  which  is  so  important,  if  the 
community  does  not  feel  it.  We  can  only  try  our  best  to  do  our  part 
of  it  and  lay  it  before  the  people,  to  meet  with  them  from  time  to  time 
and  urge  upon  them  the  importance  of  it. 

The  other  part  of  the  work,  forming  the  chartei",  is  one,  I  suppose, 
that  it  has  some  qualifications  to  perform.  We  have  used  the  best  dili- 
gence we  could  and  have  hope  and  expectations  that  experience  will 
be  had  in  the  various  Legislatures  in  adopting  for  such  cities  as  they 
may  wish  this  so-called  model  city  charter.  And  from  that  we  have 
great  expectations. 

I  have  now  spoken  too  long,  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
but  you  must  excuse  it  and  charge  it  to  my  interest  in  the  subject  aud 
the  opportunity. 

:Mr.  Chairman,  you  give  me  hope  that  our  visit  to  Columbus  may  not 
be  altogether  unproductive  in  results,  and  I  hope  it  may  excite  a  greater 
interest,  I  have  no  right  to  say  you  do  not  have  an  interest,  in  this  sub- 
ject. If  we  could  only  accomplish  what  we  want  our  cities,  instead  of" 
being  spots  of  contagion,  they  would  be  gardens  that  blossom  as  tho 
rose,  they  would  be  a  spectacle  we  would  like  to  dwell  upon,  and  human 
society  would  present  an  aspect  vastly  improved  over  that  which  it 
now  presents.  It  would  not  stop  with  the  city  government,  it  would 
reform  the  great  political  parties,  take  away  the  temptation  of  these 
sums,  these  enormous  sums  of  money  available  in  municipal  government, 
and  the  great  national  issues  would  be  decided  upon  their  merits.  It 
would  purify  the  politics  of  the  land,  and  in  purifying  the  politics  of 
the  land  would  purify  the  whole  human  society  of  the  land. 


258  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


The  Toastmaster:  The  proceedings,  discussions,  conclusions  of  the 
League,  including  those  of  this  banquet,  would  be  robbed  of  a  large 
fraction  of  their  value  if  the  next  speaker  should  remain  silent.  He  is 
a  veteran,  one  of  the  veterans  in  furthering  the  mission  of  this  League, 
the  great  work  of  perfecting  municipal  government.  He  is  one  of  the 
authors  of  the  Municipal  Program,  which  will  doubtless  be  a  beacon 
light  to  future  makers  of  municipal  law.  He  is  well  qualified  to  respond 
to  the  sentiment  because  he  lives  in  the  city  of  New  York,  the  govern- 
ment of  which  city  has  sometimes  been  so  bad  that  it  has  shaken  the 
faith  of  a  great  many  Americans  in  the  capacity  of  America  to  govern 
itself.  It  has  been  so  bad  in  that  city  and  others  that  is  has  almost 
tempted  some  Americans  to  join  Charles  Dickens  In  saying:  "My  faith 
in  the  people  to  be  governed  is  infinite;  while  my  faith  in  the  people  to 
govern  themselves  is  infinitesimal." 

Mr.  Deming  will  tell  us  some  things  which  may  tend  to  restore  our 
faith  in  the  capacity  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves.  He  will  speak 
to  the  toast,  "Have  the  people  as  good  a  government  as  they  want?" 

Mr.  Deming:    Our  honored  President  has  quoted  Pope  for  us: 
"For  forms  of  government  let  fools  contest— 
Whate'er  is  best  administer'd  is  best." 

ISIany  very  sincere  and  earnest  people  say  that,  not  as  our  Pi-esideut 
said  it,  by  way  of  contrast  to  something  worse,  but  as  if  it  were  a  funda- 
mentally sound  proposition,  that  after  all  the  form  of  government  is  un- 
important, that  the  character  and  ability  of  the  men  who  administer  the 
government  is  the  all  important  matter,  that  our  greatest  need  is  to  elect 
good  men  to  public  oflice.  How  often  we  hear  also  that  the  people  have 
as  good  a  government  as  they  want,  that  the  kind  of  government  they 
have  mirrors  vevy  exactly  the  desires  and  standards  of  the  average  citi- 
zen. 

Sincere  and  eari'est  men  hold  these  views.  No  doubt,  many  in  this 
audience  hold  them.  Are. they  sound?  Will  they  bear  analysis?  It  is 
plain  enough  that  tliey  are  discouraging.They  explain  and  excuse  all  sorts 
of  misgovernment.  Progress  is  slow  and  difficult  at  best.  Such  views  as 
these  pile  difliculties  mountain  high  in  the  way  of  improving  the  conduct 
of  public  affairs.  They  tend  to  inaction,  to  be  content  with  things  as 
they  are,  to  wait  rather  than  to  work  for  progress. 

I  propose  to  show  that  these  views  are  based  upon  an  unsound  polit- 
ical philosoph}',  and  are  uBsoimd  in  morals;  that  they  express  but  half 
truths,  that  they  brush  merely  the  surface  of  the  facts,  that  the  whole 
truth  is  a  vivifying  force  leading  to  positive  and  forward  action,  to  a 
healthy  discontent  with  things  as  they  are  and  a  hopeful  and  com*ageous 
endeavor  to  make  things  what  they  ought  to  be. 

What,  then,  is  the  ethical  basis  of  the  assertion  that  forms  of  govern- 
ment are  of  small  consequence,  that  the  selection  of  able  and  honest 
public  oflicials  is  the  important  matter?  It  is  that  the  well  being  and 
happiness  of  the  people  is  the  ethical  ideal  of  government,  that  so  long  as 


HORACE    E.    DEMING.  259 


1lie  people  are  content  the  form  is  unimportant.  Is  tliis  sound?  No  more 
sound  than  if  you  you  applied  the  same  let.  in  justification  of  the  con- 
duct of  the  individual.  What  kind  of  happiness  is  his  aim?  you  ask  at 
once.  -Is  the  fact  that  his  conduct  makes  him  happy  a  sufficient  justi- 
fication for  his  conduct?  Are  you  justified  in  drinking  to  excess  because 
it  makes  you  happy  to  be  drunk?  Is  the  fact  that  to  be  drunk  is  the  kind 
of  happiness  you  want,  that  it  exactly  mirrors  your  ideal  of  the  principal 
end  of  life,  a  sufficient  justification  for  your  being  a  toper?  It  may  ex- 
plain the  kind  of  life  you  lead,  but  does  it  justify  that  kind  of  life?  Is 
your  ethical  standard  high  or  low,  false  or  true?  It  conduces  to  my  well- 
being  to  have  money.  I  take  the  trust  funds  confided  to  me.  I  have  the 
money,  I  feel  no  remorse;  I  am  perfectly  content  and  happy.  Am  I  any 
the  less  a  thief?  And  am  I  likely  ever  to  become  a  better  man  if  the 
doctrine  prevails  that  it  is  right  to  steal  because  it  makes  me  happy? 
You  may  walk,  in  safety  the  streets  of  New  York  or  Philadelphia.  Many 
happy  homes  are  there  and  abounding  business  prosperity.  Are  their 
governments,  therefore,  good? 

No;  government  must  be  judged  by  its  conformity  to  some  ideal,  just 
us  individual  conduct  must  be  judged. 

The  political  philosophy  of  the  views  we  are  discussing  is  as  false  as 
their  ethical  standard  is  unsound. 

Whatever  the  governmental  ideal  may  be,  how  is  this  ideal  to  be 
realized?  The  most  important  and  weighty  thoughts  concern  only  the 
man  himself  until  he  finds  some  means  for  expressing  them  to  others. 
So,  the  sovereign  must  find  a  means  to  utter  its  commands.  Of  what 
avail  is  it  merely  to  think  commands?  And  given  an  organ  for  express- 
ing its  will,  how  if  it  be  without  organs  for  enforcing  the  will  when  it 
has  been  expressed? 

Sovereignty,  without  adequate  organs  for  expressing  and  enforcing 
its  will,  is  a  phantasm.  For  practical  purposes  it  has  no  will;  which  is 
the  same  thing  as  saying  that  the  sovereignty  does  not  exist. 

A  sovereignty  which  neither  proclaims  nor  enforces  commands  is 
unthinkable;  or,  at  best,  a  mere  metaphysical  abstraction  existing  quite 
apart  from  and  of  no  practical  consequence  to  a  world  of  action. 

Now,  forms  of  government  are  the  means  for  expressing  and  enforc- 
ing the  will  of  the  sovereign— the  governing  power.  They  are  the  sov- 
ereign's organs  of  utterance  and  action,  the  agencies  through  which  the 
sovereign's  ideal  seeks  its  realization.  Herein  lies  the  importance  of 
forms  of  government— that  they  either  assist  or  hinder  the  realization 
of  the  governmental  ideal. 

If  they  are  hindrances,  in  process  of  time  they  will  inevitably  be 
changed  for  new  forms,  better  suited  to  the  sovereign's  needs.  Or  it  may 
be  that  the  character  of  the  sovereignty  itself  will  change.  The  kings 
may  be  replaced  by  senate  and  consuls,  and  they  in  turn  give  way  to 
emperors.  At  any  given  moment  in  the  history  of  every  people  the  gov- 
erning power,  the  sovereignty,  is  always  seeking  more  perfect  organs 


26o  BANQUET    SPEECHES. 


for  expressing  and  enforcing  its  will,  and  the  governed  are  seeking  a 
change  in  the  charncter  of  the  sovereignty.  Out  of  this  conflict  have 
come  successive  and  ever  bitter  types  of  government. 

By  slow  degrees,  at  cost  of  infinite  sacrifice  and  suffering,  a  new 
ideal  of  sovereignty,  of  the  real  source  of  power,  has  been  evolved.  Why 
should  not  the  people  themselves  be  the  source  of  power?  Why  should 
not  the  people  govern  themselves?  The  governed  be  the  government? 
This  is  the  democratic  ideal.  Our  Declaration  of  Independence  voiced 
this  ideal  and  the  struggle  to  realize  it  has  gone  on  ever  since.  It  is  this 
struggle  by  the  people  to  rule  themselves  which  has  given  us  manhood 
suffrage,  called  into  existence  the  great  political  parties,  put  national 
and  State  nominating  conventions  in  place  of  Congressional  and  Legisla- 
tive caucuses,  compel'ed  vast  improvements  in  our  elective  methods  in 
order  the  better  to  guard  the  people's  sovereignty,  and  is  slowly  but 
surely  eliminating  "spoils"  from  the  public  service.  In  the  beginning  an 
electoral  college  stood  between  the  people  and  a  direct  popular  vote  for 
President;  the  State  Legislatures  between  the  people  and  a  direct  popu- 
lar vote  for  Senator.  The  electoral  college  has  become  a  mere  recording 
machine;  the  signs  of  the  times  point  to  a  similar  fate  for  the  State  Leg- 
islatures as  electors  of  United  States  Senaors. 

No  man  can  study  the  history  of  our  country  and  fail  to  recognize 
that  the  most  persistent  factor  in  our  politics  has  been  the  struggle  for 
a  government  responsible  to  the  people.  The  vivifying  force  in  our  pol- 
itics has  been  the  determination  of  the  people  to  be  the  government. 
There  is  no  other  political  force  to-day  comparable  with  this  faith  in 
democracy.  The  problem  of  problems  politically  in  this  country  is  how 
to  find  safe  expression  and  sure  effectuation  to  the  people's  will  in  the 
conduct  of  public  affairs— bow  to  give  the  people  as  good  a  government 
as  they  want. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  whether  the  people  is  wise  or  unwise,  or 
v^-hether  some  other  idea  of  the  source  of  sovereignty  than  the  people 
themselves  would  have  led  to  a  better  and  healthier  political  develop- 
ment. The  conviction  that  the  people's  will  ought  to  be  the  real  source 
of  all  poUtical  power  has  been  preached  from  pulpit,  proclaimed  from 
platform,  and  repeated  in  the  press  from  generation  to  generation,  until 
it  has  become  the  one  deep,  abiding  and  universally  held  article  of  polit- 
ical faith.  With  each  successive  decade  we  have  seen  new  methods  re- 
sorted to  in  order  to  give  practical  effect  to  this  faith.  Some  have  been 
well  advised,  some  i'.l  advised.  Curiously  enough  it  is  this  very  struggle 
to  secure  a  government  responsible  to  the  people  that  has  given  oppor- 
tunity for  the  rise  of  the  "boss,"  a  sort  of  political  dictator,  at  once  a 
symptom  and  a  natural  product  of  imperfectly  organized  democracy. 
It  is  this  same  fierce  struggle  of  the  people  for  mastery  that  will  extir- 
pate the  "boss."  The  "boss"  stands  in  the  way  and  he  must  go.  What- 
ever stands  in  the  way  will  go.  Kesistance  but  increases  the  energy  to 
overcome  the  resistance,  and  if  the  obstacle  is  strong  enough,  the  effort 


HORACE   E.    DEMING.  26 1 


to  overcome  it  will  be  revolution.  Yet  the  revolution,  disastrous  thougli 
it  may  be  to  contemporaries,  will  be  but  a  means  to  the  evolution  of  a 
higher  and  better  form  of  government  for  those  who  come  after. 

Revolution  or  evolution,  that  is  the  alternative.  Democracy  is  inev- 
itable. How  shall  it  be  organized?  Through  revolution  or  through 
evolution?  That  is  the  political  question  to-day  which  overshadows  in 
importance  all  others,  as  it  has  been  throughout  our  history.  Through 
what  means  shall  the  all  pervading  democratic  spirit  find  safe  outlet? 
That  is  the  problem  before  us,  as  it  was  before  our  fathers.  In  their 
time,  as  in  our  own,  there  were  those  who  said  that  the  people  had  as 
good  a  government  as  they  wanted  and  whose  love  of  country  was  satis- 
fied by  a  sense  of  personal  comfort  and  security.  We  owe  no  political 
debt  of  gratitude  either  to  them  or  to  their  false  philosophy.  The  meas- 
ure of  freedom  that  we  enjoy  is  due  neither  to  the  doctrines  nor  the  con- 
duct of  such  as  these,  but  to  the  active  patriotic  men  who  bent  their  en- 
ergies toward  the  discovery  of  safe  means  through  which  the  people 
could  strive  to  reach  their  goal— a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  peo- 
ple and  for  the  people,  through  their  own  freely  chosen  representatives. 

How  shall  we  of  this  generation  he!p  toward  this  end?  The  field  of 
our  labors  is  not  far  to  seek.  It  lies  at  our  doors.  In  the  national  field 
and,  perhaps,  in  the  field  of  State  politics,  in  order  to  give  either  expres- 
sion or  effect  to  the  people's  will,  we  may  be  forced  in  the  future  as  we 
have  been  in  the  past  to  extra-constitutional  or  extra-legal  forms  of  gov- 
ernment; but  within  our  own  lifetime  the  cities  have  become  the  control- 
ing  political  force  of  the  entire  country.  No  indirect  methods  are  needed 
to  ascertain  the  people's  will  or  carry  out  their  policy  in  the  public  af- 
fairs of  cities.  Some  way  can  be  found  by  which  the  citizens  of  a  t^>wn 
govern  the  town.  The  all-pervading  democratic  spirit  can  be  given  a 
sure  and  safe  outlet  in  a  form  of  city  government  which  shall  be  in- 
spired by  and  shall  embody  the  principles  of  true  representative  democ- 
racy. Nothing  less  will  suffice,  and  until  this  has  been  accomplished. 
not  only  will  our  cities  be  examples  of  wasteful,  inefficient  and  often 
also  of  corrupt  government;  but  they  will  be  centres  of  political  unrest, 
and  possible  political  revolution,  which  imperil  the  stability  of  the  re- 
public. Make  each  of  our  cities  a  true  representative  democracy  and  the 
political  future  of  the  whole  country  is  secure.  Does  courage  fail  at 
times  and  the  struggle  to  attain  this  end  seem  long  and  hopeless?  It  is 
the  old,  old  struggle  of  ethical  standards,  the  world-old  struggle  of  Ihe 
powers  of  good  with  the  powers  of  evil,  of  light  against  darkness.  Who 
that  knows  history  can  doubt  the  final  outcome? 

The  Toastmaster:  One  of  Philadelphia's  best  citizens,  now  dead. 
George  W.  Childs,  on  a  visit  at  one  time  to  Boston  complained  to  General 
Butler  of  the  crookedness  of  the  streets  of  that  city.  General  Butler 
retorted  that  as  soon  as  Boston  became  as  dead  as  Philadelphia  they 
"would  lay  out  the  streets  as  they  were  in  Philadelphia."  General  But- 
ler had  to  sacrifice  the  truth  in  order  to  round  out  a  repartee,  as  he  often 


262  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


did.  Pbiladelphia  is  not  dead;  it  is  truly  the  second  greatest  city  in  this 
country.  Philadelphia  is  a  great  city  in  many  things,  in  commerce,  in- 
dependence, history  associations  and  many  other  things  too  numerous  to 
mention.  We  are  gratified  in  having  with  us  one  of  her  most  prominent 
citizens,  ablest  and  most  indefatigable  workers  in  the  National  Munici- 
pal league,  the  Secretary  of  the  League.  His  work  as  Secretary  has 
been  of  incalculable  value  in  prosecuting  the  work  of  the  League.  I 
have  the  honor  of  introducing  to  you  the  Hon.  Clinton  Rogers  Woodmff, 
who  will  respond  to  the  toast,  "Municipal  Expansion." 

Mr.  Woodruff:  Mr.  Toastmaster  and  friends,  I  remarked  as  Mr. 
Deming  sat  down,  to  my  friend  Mr.  Foulke,  "I  wonder  how  many  I  will 
drive  away  from  you."  Mr.  Deming  has  driven  away  many  of  my  hear- 
ers, and  if  I  do  as  well,  Mr.  Foulke  will  have  no  audience.  The  hour  is 
late  because  of  the  lateness  of  the  commencement  of  the  dinner,  and  I 
thought  I  would  get  out  of  making  my  speech  by  the  device  of  Mr. 
Depew.  He  had  gone  to  Europe  on  the  same  boat  with  General  Horaco 
Portei-,  and  they  occupied  adjoining  staterooms.  Shortly  after  arriving  in 
England  they  attended  a  banquet  where  both  were  invited  to  speak. 
General  Porter  was  the  first  of  the  two  and  he  made  an  eloquent  speech. 
He  captured  the  hearts  of  his  hearers  and  made  a  profound  impression. 
Mr.  DepcAv  was  called  upon  next  and  he  arose  and  said:  "Mr.  Chairman, 
I  appreciate  the  very  great  honor  done  in  asking  me  to  speak  here  this 
evening.  In  fact,  I  will  tell  you  in  confidence  that  I  rather  indulged 
myself  in  the  belief  that  I  would  be  invited  to  this  banquet 
and  that  I  would  be  called  upon  to  make  a  speech,  and 
Accordingly  I  prepared  myself  in  advance,  prepared  my  speech  before  I 
left  the  other  side,  and  rehearsed  the  speech  all  the  way  over.  The 
stateroom  next  to  mine  was  occupied  by  General  Porter  and  the  speech 
you  have  just  listened  to  is  the  speech  which  I  rehearsed  in  my  state- 
room on  the  way  over."  So  I  thought  I  might  get  out  of  making  any 
speech  by  saying  that  Mr.  Carter  and  Mr.  Deming  have  made  my  speech. 

Still  there  is  something  left  to  say.  though  it  will  not  be  so  extended 
or  so  expanded  as  its  title  would  indicate.  I  should  like  to  have  the 
opportunity  of  speaking  somewhat  at  length,  but  will  not  at  this  time. 
I  am  going  to  speak  of  the  expansion  that  we  have  had;  the  expansion 
that  we  have  and  the  expansion  that  we  must  have. 

You  are  all  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  figures  produced  time  and 
again  concerning  the  enormous  growth  of  cities  in  the  past  hundreti 
years.  Mr.  Deming  has  said  that  the  city  problem  in  the  United  States 
is  practically  a  new  problem  which  has  grown  up  in  the  la.st  thirty 
years.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  off-hand,  we  are  still  a  rural  nation. 
Sixty-six  per  cent,  of  the  population  of  the  United  States  do  not  live 
in  cities.  Nearly  33  per  cent,  now  live  in  cities.  In  the  city  of  New 
York  are  now  living  as  many  people  as  a  hundred  years  ago  lived  In  the 
whole  United  States  scattered  through  the  string  of  territories.  A  hun- 
dred vears  ago  there  was  no  city  of  Chicago.    If  there  was  a  city  of 


CLINTON    ROGERS    WOODRUFF.  263 


Columbus,  it  was  a  veiy  small  affair.  We  have  expanded  enormously 
in  the  way  of  cities  in  the  last  hundred  years,  and  the  expansion  is  not 
at  an  end.  I  venture  tO'  say  that  the  new  census  will  show,  in  the  ten 
years  since  the  last  one  was  taken,  a  still  greater  expansion  in  numbers. 

Municipal  expansion  has  not  been  conflned  alone  to  numbers.  Our 
cities  have  grown  in  size.  We  have  Metropolitan  Boston,  Greater  New 
York,  we  have  had  Greater  Philadelphia  since  1854,  and  we  now  have 
Chicago  striving  to  take  in  its  adjoining  territory;  and  I  might  enumer- 
ate instance  after  instance  to  amplify  this  thought  that  our  cities  have 
expanded  numerically  and  territorially. 

That  is  not  all.  I  do  not  know  how  many  have  taken  the  trouble 
to  read  the  history  of  a  city  for  a  hundred  years,  but  take  my  own  city  of 
Philadelphia.  What  do  you  think  the  budget  of  1800  was?  It  provided 
for  just  sixty-nine  thousand  dollars  expenditures.  The  budget  for  1899 
called  for  an  expenditure  of  thirty-three  millions  of  dollars.  The  per 
capita  expenditure  of  100  years  ago  in  Philadelphia,  I  think  was  about 
twenty-five  or  thirty  cents.    It  is  now  nearly  thirty  dollars. 

We  have  expanded  numerically;  we  have  expanded  territorially;  we 
have  expanded  in  the  things  we  do.  Tbink  of  what  the  cities  have 
accomplished  in  transportation;  think  of  what  has  been  done  in  the  last 
ten  or  fifteen  years  in  the  domain  of  electricity;  in  the  way  of  com- 
mimication;  in  the  police  patrol;  in  the  fire  patrol  and  communication  by 
telephone,  and  all  the  diverse  new  forms  we  have  grouped  together  in 
the  electrical  bureaus!  Think  of  the  functions  the  cities  exercise  now! 
There  has  been  expansion  not  only  along  the  line  of  numbers  and  terri- 
tory; but  along  the  line  of  functions.  Think  of  what  has  been  done  in 
Boston  since  INIayor  Quincy  has  been  Mayor  in  addition  to  what  they 
have  done  in  the  ten,  twenty  or  twenty-five  j^ears  preceding.  And  yet,  as 
Dr.  Maltbie  tells  us,  they  are  but  on  the  threshold  of  what  they  wiU  do. 

There  has  been  an  expansion  of  operations  not  only  on  tbe  part  of  the 
city,  but  on  the  part  of  unscrupulous  and  shrewd  politicians.  I  can 
only  indicate  lines  of  thought  now.  I  want  to  suggest  that  the  municipal 
problem  is  a  problem  of  constant  expansion.  And  in  order  to  keep  up 
with  this  problem  of  municipal  expansion,  there  must  be,  as  Mr.  Carter 
pointed  out,  expansion  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  citizens.  I  happen 
to  be  more  or  less  actively  identified  with  the  Municipal  League  of 
Philadelphia,  and  perhaps  bccauseof  my  years,  which  are  not  many  as  yet, 
I  am  very  hopeful  of  the  outlook.  Yet  there  are  times  when  I  become 
sad  at  heart  concerning  some  things  that  come  to  my  attention;  be- 
cause the  people  of  Philadelphia  (and  they  are  in  no  sense  different  from 
the  people  of  every  other  city  I  come  in  contact  with)— because  the 
people  of  Philadelphia  do  not  seem  to  realize  they  have  a  direct  and 
vital  interest  in  the  question  of  good  city  government  and  do  not  realize 
that  the  solution  of  that  problem  depends  upon  their  acivity. 

I  wish  I  had  time  to  talk  of  some  practical  experiences;  to  take  yon 
to  precinct  after  precinct  where  the  so-called   eminent,   distinguished 


264  BANQUET    SPEECHES. 


citizens  live  and  show  you  the  actual  polling  books,  and  show  you  where 
thirty,  forty,  fifty,  yes,  sixty  and  seventy  per  cent,  of  these  eminent  citi- 
zens do  not  come  out  to  exercise  their  franchises  as  freemen.  They  sit 
around  the  firesides  and  condemn  the  evils  of  city  government  and  do 
not  raise  their  hand,  by  means  of  the  suffrage,  to  change  these  condi- 
tions. 

Not  only  do  we  need  expansion  of  activity  and  interest  on  the  part 
of  citizens,  but  we  need  an  expansion  of  ideas  and  ideals  concerning 
city  government.  Too  many  look  upon  the  municipal  problem  purely  as 
a  problem  of  dollars  and  cents;  as  merely  one  of  taxes.  It  is  something 
of  far  more  importance,  of  far  greater  significance  than  dollars  and 
cents.  If  the  people  of  the  country  are  going  to  keep  up  the  trend  toward 
the  cities;  if  the  cities  keep  on  growing  in  number  and  size  as  in  the 
last  few  decades,  it  is  going  to  be  a  question  of  the  salvation  of  our 
republic  unless  we  solve  the  municipal  problem.  It  was  said  at  Phila- 
delphia at  the  first  Conference  for  Good  City  Government,  that  the 
salvation  of  the  cities  was  essential  to  the  salvation  of  the  country.  Ex- 
pressed in  another  way,  unless  we  save  the  cities  we  are  bound  to  lose 
the  nation  and  all  that  stands  with  it.  And  why?  Because  we  recognize 
that  the  city  is  the  centre  of  influence,  the  keynote  to  the  situation.  As 
goes  the  city,  so  goes  the  nation.  If  you  allow  it  to  become  corrupt,  it  is 
going  to  jeopardize  the  whole  fabric  of  our  government,  not  only  in  the 
city,  but  in  the  State  and  nation.  And  it  behooves  us  to  have  an  idea 
concerning  municipal  government  other  than  that  of  dollars  and  cents. 
We  must  look  upon  it  as  a  great  institution  for  good,  for  human  happi- 
ness, for  bringing  a  better,  larger  degree  of  comfort  and  well  being  to 
the  people  who  live  in  the  community.  We  simply  stand  upon  the 
threshold  of  an  adequate  conception  of  municipal  government  as  an 
institution  for  good.  Let  us  expand  our  ideas  concerning  the  power  of 
the  municipal  government  as  an  agency  for  the  good  of  mankind. 

I  am  not  going  to  trespass  further  on  your  time.  I  simply  want  to 
throw  out  the  suggestion  that  the  municipal  problem  is  a  problem  of 
expansion  and  the  solution  of  the  problem  must  be  sought  by  the  ex- 
pansion of  activity  and  ideals  on  the  part  of  the  citizens. 

The  Toastmaster:  In  the  line  of  what  Mr.  Woodruff  has  just  said, 
Jefferson  once  said  the  township  was  the  wisest  invention  that  the  wit 
of  man  ever  devised  for  the  exercise  of  self-government  and  the  preserva- 
tion of  it.  The  next  speaker  is  a  member  of  the  Indiana  Township  Com- 
niission,  which  had  for  its  object  the  improvement  of  the  government 
of  townships  of  that  State.  He  has  studied  the  problem  of  local  self- 
government  and  knows  some  of  its  worst  enemies,  and  knows  something 
about  its  gigantic  evils— "The  Boss  and  the  King."  Of  all  the  scourges 
God  ever  inflicted  on  a  community  the  worst  are  the  boss  and  the 
ring  in  a  city.  The  response  will  be  made  by  Hon.  William  Dudley 
Foulke,  of  Richmond,  Ind. 


WILLIAM    DUDLEY    FOULKE.  2o5 


Mr.  Foulke:  I  tbank  Mr.  Woodruff  for  the  courteous  words  at  the 
opening  of  his  remarlis,  which  seem  to  have  restrained  the  exodus,  and 
T  can  promise  that  I  will  not  detain  you  at  this  late  hour  but  a  very 
few  minutes. 

When  yesterday  morning  I  received  this  kind  invitation  to  speak 
here  to-night,  I  was  asked  what  subject  I  would  speak  on.  I  said,  with- 
out consideration,  "The  Boss  and  the  Ring."  Then  it  occurred  to  me 
that  perhaps  that  was  an  unfortunate  subject  for  me,  for  I  live  in  a 
town  where  if  there  is  a  boss  I  do  not  know  his  name,  and  if  there  be  a 
ring  I  do  not  know  who  compose  it.  But  thinking  a  little  further  it  oc- 
curred to  me  that  perhaps  that  was  fortunate,  because  I  have  always 
noticed  among  my  friends,  they  can  always  speak  best  of  things  they 
know  the  least,  and  that  the  spirit  of  American  liberty  loves  also  greater 
freedom  for  its  imagination.  So  it  appeared  a  fortunate  selection,  as 
I  could  cull  from  the  infinite  fields  of  my  ignorance  perhaps  a  sufficient 
amount  of  material  to  describe  the  boss  and  the  ring,  and  so  drawing 
on  that  imagination  I  could  tell  you  of  the  boss  with  horns  and  cloven 
hoof,  surrounded  with  a  circle  kept  together  with  the  cohesive  power  of 
public  plunder,  of  the  little  imps  and  devils  dancing  and  prancing  around 
him  whom  I  could  see  lit  by  phosphorescent  infernal  fires! 

But,  after  all,  thinking  a  little  further  upon  the  subject,  I  wondered 
exactly  what  it  was  the  word  "boss"  meant.  As  Mr.  Deming  said,  the 
word  "boss"  is  the  outgrowth  of  democratic  institutions.  In  a  despot- 
ism there  can  be  no  boss,  unless  he  be  the  despot  and  he  has  quite 
another  name  and  function.  The  boss  exercises  great  political  power 
over  his  fellows.  If  we  read  histoiy  (and  Mr.  Deming  referred  us  to  his- 
tory) we  find  in  the  democracy  of  ancient  Athens,  Pericles,  who  held 
no  office,  but  was  the  absolute  ruler  of  the  city;  and  yet  history  fails 
to  inform  us  that  his  rule  was  malevolent,  that  it  conduced  to  the  decay 
of  public  virtue.    Was  Pericles  a  boss? 

Coming  on  down  to  the  middle  ages,  we  have  another  freer  people  than 
any  which  exists  to-day.  All  the  power  was  in  the  hands  of  th-; 
guilds,  of  the  workingmen.  Florence,  where  none  were  excluded  from 
the  government  except  the  nobles  who  Avere  excluded  on  account  of 
fear  for  their  power;  a  democracy  as  complete  in  theory  as  in  practice; 
where  all  citizens  held  office  in  rotation,  the  term  of  office  being  limited 
to  two  months;  and  every  reputable  citizen  appeared  on  the  list  to  have 
his  turn,  determined  by  lot.  It  was  certainly  a  free  institution.  Finally 
a  man  arose,  a  man  who  gained  wealth  and  power  by  first  obtaining 
power  over  the  officers  who  made  the  lists  from  which  the  city  function- 
aries were  selected,  and  in  this  way  he  secured  none  but  friends  upon  the 
list.  So  while  but  a  private  citizen  and  holding  himself  no  office  what- 
ever, he  became  the  absolute  ruler  of  the  State.  Certainly  that  man  was 
a  boss. 

How,  then,  shall  we  distinguish  the  leader,  the  legitimate  leader, 
from  the  boss?    The  word  "boss"  has  an  honest  significance;  it  is,  indeed, 


266  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


"the  leader  of  the  gang,"  but  the  "gang"  is  composed  of  a  number  of 
workmen  engaged  in  a  common  object  under  the  leadership  of  one  man, 
a  worthy  function.  But  in  our  vocabulary  it  has  a  sinister  significance; 
as  I  take  it,  a  man  who  attracts  and  keeps  power  by  pandering  to  the 
baser  elements  of  humanity;  who  wins  power  by  the  distribution  of  pub- 
lic pelf  or  public  patronage;  by  the  greed  and  lust  of  gain;  by  the  greed 
and  lust  of  office. 

What,  then,  are  the  remedies?  Let  us  take  greed  of  office  first.  The 
boss  of  the  city  controls,  whether  he  holds  office  or  not— and  as  Mr.  Car- 
ter has  shown,  as  fully  when  he  holds  no  office  as  when  he  does.  He 
holds  in  his  hand  the  moral  power,  determines  who  shall  hold  places  in 
that  city,  as  police,  members  of  the  fire  department,  clerks  in  the  various 
offices. 

The  possession  of  arbitrary  power  is  almost  sure  to  corrupt  the  pos- 
sessor, and  even  if  the  boss  at  first  is  disposed  to  do  right,  the  possession 
of  such  power  will  not  remain  long  in  his  hands  without  abuse.  Mr. 
Croker  held  this  power  of  distributing  the  patronage  of  New  York  and 
it  made  him  the  boss.  He  used  it  for  base  purposes  and  unworthy  ends; 
not  for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  but  for  his  party  and  himself. 

Now,  there  is  a  perfect  remedy  for  the  evils  of  patronage,  not  exist- 
ing in  theory  and  the  imagination  only;  but  proved  by  actual  experience 
of  more  than  a  generation  in  England,  of  more  than  a  decade  in  our 
own  country,  by  which  we  may  have  the  power  to  select  these  men  by 
other  than  the  mere  power  of  the  boss.  Civil  service  reform  shows  us 
the  answer,  and  I  am  glad  to  attend  this  meeting  as  one  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform  League.  What  do  we  do  in 
oiher  things  against  the  abuses  of  arbitrary  power?  Limit  that  power 
bv  general  rules  which  all  must  obey.  We  know  that  even  an  imperfect 
law  works  better  in.  the  long  run  for  the  community  to  be  governed  by 
the  law  than  the  arbitrary  will  of  any  man.  There  should  be  a  system  of 
rules  and  laws  to  control  the  appointment  of  all  non-administrative  offi- 
cers, the  same  as  you  insist  that  your  rights  of  liberty,  property  and  life 
shall  be  confided  to  the  law  of  the  land  and  not  to  the  arbitrary  will  of 
any  monarch  or  despot.  Whatever  the  law,  it  is  safer  than  the  will  of 
any  single  man.  Rules  are  better  to  determine  fitness  for  office  than 
any  man  whatever. 

You  ask  what  kind  of  rules  should  they  be?  I  answer  veiy  easy  and 
simple  ones.  If  a  man  has  to  perform  a  particular  function,  he  must 
first  understand  the  duties  of  that  office;  in  the  second  place,  he  must 
perform  the  duties  of  that  office.  How  will  you  know  he  understands 
them?  By  examination.  How  will  you  know  he  will  do  them?  By 
trying  him.  Examination  and  probation  ought,  therefore,  to  be  the  por- 
tals to  all  these  subordinate  offices.  Tlie  system  is  a  very  simple  one 
after  it  is  once  applied.  A  man  ought  not  to  be  a  policeman  unless  he  can 
run  fast  enough  to  catch  a  man  and  is  strong  enough  to  hold  him  after 
he  is  caught;  he  ought  not  to  make  an  arrest  if  he  does  not  know  the 


WILLIAM    DUDLEY    FOULKE.  267 

circumstances  to  justify  the  arrest,  and  under  what  circumstances  lie 
can  make  an  arrest  without  a  warrant.  The  examination  should  test 
speed,  strength,  intelligence  and  endurance.  A  man  ought  not  to  be  a 
reading  clerli  if  he  can  not  read;  yet  I  have  heard  clerks  in  the  Indiana 
Legislature  who  read  so  that  you  could  not  understand  them,  and  I  have 
seen  bills  engrossed  so  that  the  people  could  not  read  them.  We  oughr 
not  only  have  a  fit  man,  but  the  city  is  entitled  to  the  fittest  man.  How 
can  we  secure  that?  By  examination  of  all  and  taking  the  one  who 
shows  the  most  fitness.    It  is  simple  enough. 

People  talk  about  civil  service  reform  being  the  Chinese  system. 
The  spoils  system  is  the  Chinese  system,  it  is  the  round  peg  put  into  the 
square  hole,  that  is  the  Chinese  system.  In  order  that  a  man  may  bo 
appointed  to  a  warship,  he  must  have  a  complete  knowledge  of  the 
precepts  of  Confucius  and  the  wx'itings  of  the  fathers  and  the  conduct  of 
the  dynasties.  It  requires  him  to  know  something  he  will  never  be 
required  to  use;  it  requires  him  to  possess  knowledge  which  will  never 
be  of  use  to>  him  in  such  a  position. 

Under  the  spoils  system  Avhat  is  the  situation?  A  man  asks  to  be 
appointed  an  accountant.  He  has  served  many  years  in  that  kind  of 
work  and  understands  the  duties  of  the  place.  But  the  politician  says, 
"I  can't  appoint  that  man,  he  is  a  Democrat,  he  believes  in  free  trade." 

"Who  will  you  appoint?"  "There  is  Tom  Brown— he  brought  the  boys 
in  in  the  Fifth  District  all  right.  He  locked  up  the  floaters  in  a  barn  and 
had  them  ready  to  cast  their  votes  the  next  morning.  That's  the  man!" 
In  fact,  that's  the  round  peg  in  the  square  hole;  that's  the  Chinese  sys- 
tem! And  I  was  sorry  that  I  could  not  agree  with  one  sentiment  ex- 
pressed in  a  very  admirable  speech  in  regard  to  the  new  Code  to  be 
established  here  in  Ohio.  The  speaker  remarked  that  the  important 
thing  in  the  Code  was  for  the  organization  of  cities,  to  have  something 
uniform  throughout  the  State;  and  if  civil  service  reform  could  not  carry, 
siill  it  would  be  enough  if  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  should  pass  the  law 
malving  uniform  all  the  charters  of  the  State.  My  friends,  that  is  talcing 
the  substance  for  the  shadow.  Uniformity  is  not  necessary  to  good  gov- 
ernment; symmetry  is  a  good  and  beautiful  thing;  if  we  see  the  dome  in 
the  middle  and  the  columns  in  front,  an  equal  number  on  each  side: 
but  modern  architecture  contrives  to  erect  great  buildings  without  sym- 
metiy.  It  is  not  as  necessary  that  we  should  be  under  one  uniform  law 
as  that  the  laws  under  which  we  are  existing  should  be  good  laws;  and 
if  you  take  out  civil  service  you  will  take  from  the  law  the  most  impor- 
tant feature,  because  it  is  a  certain  specific  against  that  kind  of  corriip- 
tion  which  is  nourished  by  the  spoils  of  office.  It  is  the  one  thing  th;^t 
will  cure  it.  Let  tlie  law  fit  the  place;  never  mind  the  imiformity.  Do 
not  force  mankind  into  a  condition  where  he  has  to  fit  the  law.  The 
main  thing,  after  all,  is  to  have  the  laws,  good  laws,  whether  uniform 
or  not;  and  nothing  is  more  essential  to  good  law  than  providing  for 
civil  service  reform. 


268  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


People  say  that  it  is  a  remnant  of  some  other  form  of  government, 
that  it  is  not  democratic.  What  is  more  democratic  than  to  give  every 
maxi  an  equal  chance?  The  old  system  of  the  past  is  a  remnant  which 
Ave  have  left  of  autocrac-y  in  government,  and  we  have  outgrown  it. 

What  I  want  to  say  is  this:  In  order  that  we  can  find  out  very 
clearly  what  is  the  proper  remedy  for  the  evils  which  have  fallen  from 
the  fact  that  immense  aggregations  of  capital  seek  special  favors  of  the 
city,  the  first  requisite  is  publicity,  requiring  every  corporation  perform- 
ing public  service,  as  street  railroad,  gas  and  water  companies,  to  keep 
their  accounts  open  to  the  public;  require  them  to  make  statements  not 
only  of  all  earnings  of  the  company,  but  of  everything  connected  with  the 
business  in  such  a  way  that  the  public  can  understand  it.  Uniformity 
is  required  for  a  different  reason.  Uniformity  is  required  because  there 
must  be  a  general  standard  of  measure,  just  as  in  currency,  or  for  the 
dry  goods  merchant.  We  must  have  a  uniform  standard  of  corporation 
accounting.  Let  there  be  a  uniform  system  of  accounting;  let  there  bp 
a  unifoi'm  system  of  examining.  Let  the  world  know  exactly  the  earn- 
ing power  of  eacli  coi-poration.  That  should  be  done  before  the  question 
is  determined  as  to  whether  the  city  shall  own  these;  whether  the  city 
shall  control  them  or  they  be  left  in  private  hands.  Throw  light  on  that 
subject.  There  should  be  complete  publicity  in  regard  to  all  public 
business  of  all  public  servants. 

Another  thing,  I  believe  in  competitive  leasing.  Let  bids  be  received 
and  open  to  every  one,  just  as  offices  are  under  civil  service  reform,  and 
you  will  find  a  great  deal  of  corruption  will  vanish.  I  have  immense 
faith,  as  Mr.  Doming  says,  in  the  recupei-ative  power  of  democracy,  in 
its  power  to  purge  itself  of  ai:  evil.  I  do  not  doubt  these  reforms  will 
come  in  the  future:  that  the  land  we  all  love  will  continue  to  grow  and 
develop  by  external  expansion  until  our  dominion  will  follow  the  stars 
over  the  continents,  over  the  isles  and  the  oceans,  when  there  shall  be 
a  purer,  higher  and  nobler  life,  when  the  boss  and  the  ring  shall  have 
vanished  forever  from  American  institutions! 

The  Toastmaster:  In  one  of  our  courts  after  a  case  had  been  tried  and 
the  presiding  Judge  of  the  court  had  delivered  himself  of  a  learned  and 
(.xhaustive  opinion  on  the  question,  then  turned  to  his  associates  and 
said:  "All  has  been  said  that  can  be  said;  what  have  you  got  to  say?" 

We  have  not  reached  that  point  yet  in  the  intellectual  part  of  our 
banquet.  There  is  something  more  to  be  said,  and  the  next  toast  will 
be  responded  to  by  E.  M.  Thresher,  of  Dayton,  Ohio,  who  was  iuBtru- 
mental  in  having  the  preliminary  legislation  enacted  by  the  Legislature 
for  the  improvement  of  our  municipal  government  in  this  State.  Mr. 
Thresher,  of  Dayton,  will  respond  to  the  toast:  "The  Business  Man  and 
Municipal  Government." 

Mr.  Thresher:  Mr.  Toastmaster,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen— At  this  early 
hour  of  a  coming  day.  after  the  thoughtful,  suggestive  and  comprehensive 
addresses  to  which  you  have  listened,  I  feel  that  the  greatest  service  I 


E.    M.    THRESHER.  269 


could  render  would  be  to  pronounce  tlie  benediction.  I  will  have  to  fall 
back  on  Peter  White's  answer  to  prayer:  He  was  a  pious  soul  and  wished 
for  Divine  guidance,  and  so  he  asked  the  Lord  to  give  him  refreshing 
sleep  and  a  good  night's  rest  that  he  might  wake  in  the  morning  well 
and  strong  to  work  for  Him.  And  a  voice  said,  "Peter,  what  have  you 
been  eating?"  "Oysters  on  the  half  shell,  broiled  beefsteak,  bacon,  fried 
potatoes,  poached  eggs,  a  little  piece  of  sausage,  buckwheat  cakes,  honey, 
apple  butter  and  two  cups  of  coffee!"  And  the  voice  replied,  "Wei], 
Peter,  I  will  do  the  best  I  can  for  you  under  the  circumstances." 

The  business  man— what  is  he?  He  is  one  of  the  foremost  factors  in 
society  to-day.  He  is  one  of  the  representative  features  of  our  modern 
civilization.  When  mankind  awoke  from  the  dark  ages  and  went  to 
work  with  heart  and  brain  to  avail  themselves  of  the  good  gifts  of  God 
laid  before  them,  the  business  man  came  in  evidence  at  Venice,  Genoa. 
Florence,  London,  Antwerp,  Amsterdam.  He  was  the  friend  of  th(» 
laborer,  he  was  the  friend  of  good  government,  he  was  the  promoter  of 
learning,  he  was  the  patron  of  art,  he  was  the  supporter  of  the  throne. 
He  maintains  the  State,  he  is  the  cornerstone  of  society,  he  protects  the 
home.  "Knowest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business;  he  shall  stand 
before  kings."  His  relation  to  the  municipal  government  is  vital,  because 
the  municipal  government  is  very  much  what  he  makes  it,  and  he  is  very 
much  of  the  time  what  the  municipal  government  makes  him. 

The  evils  of  municipal  government  arise  mainly  about  the  conduct  of 
public  business,  and  that  is  the  sphere  of  the  business  man.  And  when 
we  come  to  settle  the  relation  that  I  and  my  friend  as  independent  good 
citizens  and  tax-payers  bear  to  ourselves  as  integral  parts  of  a  corpora- 
tion which  seeks  the  public  patronage  or  the  boon  of  public  business, 
then  we  will  settle  the  whole  question. 

An  early  settler  in  the  beautiful  Mud  Eiver  Valley,  who  was  a  thrifty 
citizen,  was  greatly  interested  in  the  construction  of  the  first  turupikf? 
between  Springfield  and  Dayton,  and  after  he  had  seen  to  it  that  it 
twisted  around  so  that  it  ran  past  every  one  of  his  barns  on  his  farms, 
he  said:  "There  is  nothing  so  good  as  a  straight  road— make  it  straight  to 
Dayton  and  Springfield." 

My  friend,  who  is  not  here,  holds  gas  stock  and  believes  his  company 
is  a  very  worthy  corporation  and  deserving  of  all  that  the  corporation 
can  do  for  it,  but  has  clear  convictions  upou  the  enormity  of  the  other 
gentleman  of  the  electric  light  company  who  gets  $130  for  a  light  which 
evei-ybody  else  thinks  worth  only  $35. 

What  is  the  remedy  for  all  this  condition  of  affairs?  How  can  the 
good  citizen,  the  business  man,  get  good  government?  Why,  he  can  do 
it  by  seeing  that  good  men  are  put  in  office;  such  a  man  as  will  be  able 
to  say  "no"  to  him  when  he  knows  he  ought  to  say  no.  I  suppose  that 
means  civil  service  reform.  Then  you  can  see  that  the  business  of  the 
city  is  conducted  on  business  principles;  that  such  a  system,  and  forms 
and  methods  are  adopted— and  the  best  ones- as  will  remove  him  from 


270  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


the  temptation  of  expecting  two  prices  and  voting  for  the  candidate  -who 
will  let  him  get  them.  And  then  he  can  organize;  he  can  join  himself  to- 
gether with  other  good  citizens  to  form  a  local  business  organization, 
and  various  local  business  associations  can  be  joined  together  into  a 
State  organization,  which  will  be  able  to  do  as  our  State  Board  of  Com- 
merce has  done — see  the  opportunity  to  draft  an  adequate  bill,  to  have  it 
passed  by  the  Legislature,  to  see  that  the  most  crying  evil  is  corrected. 
The  most  crying  evil  in  Ohio  is  the  multitudinous  classification  of  cities. 
The  State  Board  of  Commerce  thought  only  to  get  uniform  laws  for  tha 
government  of  cities.  When  the  Codifjing  Commission  met  they  found 
they  had  to  get  at  the  bottom  of  things.  I  believe  the  thing  will  stand 
and  I  believe  the  people  of  Ohio  will  do  now  as  they  have  always  done— 
the  right  thing.  I  am  proud  of  my  fellow-citizens  who  have  never  failed 
to  respond  to  the  cause  of  right  when  it  was  set  before  them. 

Gentlemen  and  ladies,  when  the  country  succeeds  in  having  the  busi- 
ness of  our  cities  transacted  by  good  business  men  upon  good  business 
principles,  we  shall  have  have  reached  the  Golden  Age  of  Municipal 
Government. 

The  Toastmaster:  The  discussion  of  the  evening  and  the  toasts  would 
not  be  complete  unless  we  heard  a  voice  from  the  land  of  flowers  and 
oratory.  The  next  toast  will  be:  "A  Former  Official's  View,"  responded 
to  by  the  Hon.  George  W.  Ochs,  of  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  who  served 
two  terms  as  Mayor  of  that  city.  He  ought  to  be  able  to  tell  us  things 
verj'  instructive  to  us.  He  might  tell  us  his  former  view  and  his  later 
view.  Probably  this  is  what  he  Is  going  to  do  under  the  guise  of  this 
toast.    Mr.  Ochs,  of  Chattanooga. 

Mr.  Ochs:  Mr.  Toastmaster,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen— After  listening 
tor  four  years  at  four  successive  meetings  of  the  National  Municipal 
League  to  the  learned  addresses  that  have  been  delivered  at  the  conven- 
tions and  at  the  banquets,  on  the  festering  sore  on  the  body  politic  in 
the  shape  of  municipal  officers,  I  feel  I  owe  an  apology  to  this  assem- 
blage for  the  fact  that  in  an  ungniarded  moment  I  permitted  myself  one 
time  to  be  lowered  into  that  unspeakable  set.  I  assure  you,  after  what  I 
have  heard  and  after  seeing  here,  writ  in  imperishable  letters,  that  I 
have  occupied  a  position  among  the  degenerates,  that  my  atonement,  T 
think,  is  complete— I  have  done  full  penance. 

But,  perhaps,  there  is  comfort  in  the  thought  that  I  am  not  alone; 
that  even  our  distinguished  Secretary  has  been  sentenced  to  two  terms  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  and  if  he  does  no  worse  than  he  has  in 
the  past,  I  believe  he  will  be  given  a  life  term. 

The  Secretary:  Not  with  my  consent. 

Mr.  Ochs:  Hence,  I  feel  that  I  must  apologize  to  this  assembly  for 
having  been  committed  to  a  merited  term  of  four  years,  and  I  hope  that 
my  future  conduct  will  do  full  penance  for  my  misdeeds  in  that  respect. 

I  will  pot  detain  you,  for  the  hour  is  late.  We  have  heard  learned, 
erudite  speeches  on  the  question  of  municipal  reform.    I  have  only  this 


GEORGE    \V.    OCHS.  271 


to  say:  The  view  of  a  former  official  is  a  concrete  actual  knowledge  of 
the  crying  and  imperative  necessity  of  a  propaganda  such  as  was  in- 
augurated and  is  now  being  carried  on  by  the  National  Municipal  League. 

As  was  well  said  this  afternoon,  the  first  hundred  years  of  our  Go\'- 
ernment  was  an  epoch  simply  to  decide  whether  this  nation  was  to  bo 
a  confederation  of  States  held  by  a  slender  tie,  or  whether  it  would  be 
an  indestructible  union  of  States,  a  nation  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 
This  was  happily  settled  along  wnth  the  question  of  slavery  by  the 
arbitrament  of  the  sword.  The  next  question  confronting  us,  the  most 
serious  question  to-day,  is  the  administration  of  our  municipalities,  a 
question  fraught  with  most  serious  consequences  to  every  citizen,  and 
which,  I  think,  affects  the  well  being  and  the  future  of  the  nation  itself. 
Up  to  a  very  few  years  ago  each  municipalitj^  had  a  czar  more  absolute 
in  his  power  than  the  Czar  of  the  Russias.  His  word  was  law;  he  dictated 
the  nominations,  dictated  the  elections  and  filled  all  offices.  This  has 
been  the  condition  of  affairs  and  exists  to-day,  from  the  indifference, 
carelessness  and  disregard  of  public  duty  by  the  good  citizen.  As  has 
been  said  before,  the  source  of  the  evils  which  to-day  affiict  our  Ameri- 
can cities  is  the  bad  citizenship  of  the  good  citizen.  And  it  is  the  pur- 
pose of  the  National  Municipal  League,  which  is  the  mother  of  aU  kin- 
dred and  affiliated  societies  which  have  sprung  up  all  over  the  United 
States,  to  correct  this  evil,  to  arouse  the  sleeping  lion  and  to  put  the 
people  on  guard  against  the  dangers  which  confront  our  nation.  The 
effect  has  already  been  electrical.  The  National  Municipal  League  has 
been  in  existence  only  a  few  years,  and  yet  there  have  sprung  up  as  if 
by  magic  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other,  from  the  Gulf  to  the 
Lakes,  kindred  societies  and  associations  without  number,  with  but  one 
object  in  view,  to  arouse  the  sleeping  sentiment  of  the  good  citizen,  and 
that  has  been  effective.  I  believe. 

I  am  inclined  to  a  little  more  optimism  than  some  of  the  gentlemen 
who  have  preceded  me.  Evidences  of  improvement  have  already  been 
seen  in  some  smaller  cities,  and  the  leaven  is  being  felt  in  the  larger 
cities.  We  are  told  that  even  in  Chicago  they  have  an  honest  City  Coun- 
cil. If  that  result  has  already  been  accomplished,  what  may  we  not 
accomplish  in  the  balance  of  om-  country. 

"He  who  joy  would  win,  must  share  it; 
Happiness  was  born  a  twin." 

The  influence  of  the  work  of  these  municipal  leagues  has  already 
prompted  the  city  officials,  to  form  an  association  of  municipalities,  a 
powerful  factor  in  correcting  these  evils,  to  work  hand  in  hand  with 
the  reform  clubs,  the  National  Municipal  League  and  affiliated  societies 
throughout  the  United  States  in  remedying  the  evils  which  confront  the 
muncipalities. 

Viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  a  former  city  official,  it  can  in  truth 
be  said,  God  speed  the  day  when  the  model  charter  will  be  the  charter 
for  American  cities,  and  the  day  when  the  evils  we  complain  of  will  be 
corrected. 


2/2  BANQUET   SPEECHES. 


Questions  of  more  serious  moment  now  confront  us  tlian  any  that 
have  been  presented  since  the  Civil  War;  for  the  subject  of  expansion, 
tlie  acquisition  of  countless  isles  across  the  seas,  the  administration  of 
their  affairs  ^Yill  soon  make  it  necessary  to  decide  the  municipal  prob- 
lem in  Santiago,  in  Manila,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Hawaiian  islands.  In 
the  South  we  have  had  for  many  years  a  "white  man's  burden,"  and  now 
you  of  the  nation  begin  to  share  it  with  us.  While  an  armed  foe  exists 
that  assaults  the  armies  of  the  United  States  or  fires  upon  the  American 
Hag,  I  believe  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  American  citizen  to  stand  by  our 
soldiers  until  the  foe  is  subdued.  But  what  then?  I  believe  in  the 
genius  of  Americanism.  I  believe  that  this  republic  has  a  glorious  des- 
tiny. I  have  faith  in  my  country.  My  optimism  convinces  me  that  net 
only  will  we  with  equal  and  exact  justice  satisfactorily  adjust  all  ques- 
tions of  foreign  relation,  but  that  no  wrong  will  be  perpetrated  upon  any 
race,  and  no  race  will  be  attached  to  this  country  by  force  of  arms.  I 
believe  the  foreign  municipal  question  will  be  solved  with  honor  lo 
American  citizenship  and  that  the  American  municipal  queston  will  be 
so  disposed  of  that  future  altruists  will  take  as  a  standard  of  good  gov- 
ernment, not  municipalities  of  Great  Britain,  or  Germany,  or  any  foreign 
potentate,  but  the  model  municipalities  of  Free  America! 

I  have  faith  in  the  statesmanship  and  saving  good  sense  of  the 
American  people. 

I  had  hoped,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  have  said  something  about  the 
toast  I  was  asked  to  respond  to,  but  the  hour  is  so  late  that  I  will  not 
inflict  you  with  remarks  on  the  subject.  I  have  only  this  to  say:  That 
the  municipal  officers,  as  a  rule,  are  perhaps  not  so  bad  as  they  have 
been  painted.  They  need  the  advice  of  such  men  as  sit  at  this  board 
to-night,  and  the  mature  judgment  of  these  students  of  the  municipal 
problem,  and  more  Demings  and  Carters  and  men  of  that  character  to 
give  voice  and  expression  to  what  constitutes  the  proper  condition  of 
city  affairs.  When  I  took  the  reins  of  government  I  was  entirely  un- 
tutored in  the  art  of  municipal  economics.  I  occupied  the  same  position, 
probably,  as  hundreds  of  Mayors  do  in  the  United  States  to-day.  I  had 
no  means  of  learning  the  true  condition  of  municipal  economics. 
Through  the  influence  of  the  National  Municipal  League  opportunity  was 
afforded  me  to  study  some  of  these  subjects  and  I  feel  if  I  accomplished 
anything,  it  was  through  the  knowledge  obtained  at  this  fountain  head 
of  knowledge.  And  this  League  is  to-day  doing  more  good  for  good  gov- 
ernment than  all  the  agencies  created  by  the  government  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  All  that  is  needed  is  persistent  effort.  Municipal  government 
Is  improving;  there  is  no  question  about  that.  The  people  are  beginning 
to  think,  and  I  look  forward  to  the  time  when  the  hopes  of  the  League 
will  be  realized,  when  American  cities  wii:  be  the  honor  and  pride,  in- 
stead of  the  despair  of  students  of  municipal  government. 

The  Toastmaster:  I  want  to  thank  the  National  Municipal  League  for 
confen-ing  a  great  honor  upon  the  city  by  holding  its  meeting  here  this 
year.    This  is  the  end  of  the  banquet. 


LIST  OF  DELEGATES — COLUMBUS  CONFERENCE.       273 


LIST  OF  DELEGATES. 


Ohio  Municipal  Code  Commission — Hon.  D.  F.  Pugh,  Colum- 
bus; Hon.  Edward  Kibler,  Newark. 

Ohio  State  Board  of  Commerce — Henry  A.  Griffin,  Cleveland; 
J.  M.  Kennedy,  Cincinnati;  O.  A.  Miller,  Cokmibus;  Hon.  John 
F.  Oglevee,  Columbus;  W.  H.  Davis,  Cincinnati. 

Cleveland  Chamber  of  Commerce — Hon.  E.  J.  Blandin,  W.  E. 
Cushing,  W.  M.  Day,  N.  A.  Gilbert,  H.  R.  Hatch,  J.  C.  Hutch- 
ins. 

Municipal  League  of  Pittsburg — Oliver  McClintock,  George 
W.  Guthrie,  F.  W.  McKee. 

Municipal  Association  of  Cleveland — Frederic  C.  Howe,  G.  K. 
Shurtlefif,  M.  A.  Fanning. 

Good  Government  Club,  Hamilton  Co.,  Ohio — Hon.  Charles 
Evans,  Hon.  C.  D.  Robertson. 

Municipal  League  of  Philadelphia — George  Burnham,  Jr., 
Charles  Richardson,  Dr.  L.  S.  Rowe,  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff. 

City  Club  of  New  York — James  C.  Carter,  Horace  E.  Deming, 
Prof.  Frank  J.  Goodnow. 

Chattanooga,  Tennessee — Hon.  George  W.  Ochs. 

Brooklyn,  New  York — William  G.  Low. 

Wisconsin  League  of  Municipalities — Dr.  Samuel  E.  Sparling. 

Troy,  New  York — Walter  P.  Warren. 

Boston,  Massachusetts — Dr.  E.  W.  Hartwell,  Municipal  Statis- 
tical Commission. 

New  York  City— M.  N.  Baker,  Hon.  Bird  S.  Coler,  Mrs.  Hor- 
ace E.  Deming,  William  S.  Crandall. 

Elk  Rapids,  Michigan — Delos  F.  Wilcox. 

Good  Government  League,  Detroit — John  Davis,  S.  D.  Callan- 
der. 

National  Civil  Service  Reform     League — William     G.     Low, 
Brooklyn,  Hon.  Wm.  Dudley  Foulke,  Richmond,  Ind. 
Municipal  League  of  Milwaukee — John  A.  Butler. 
Reform  Club  of  New  York— Dr.  M.  R.  Maltbie. 


2/4      J^IST  OF  DELEGATES — COLUMBUS  CONFERENCE. 

Civic  Federation  of  Chicago — William  A.  Giles. 

Chicago — Allen  Ripley  Foote,  Paul  J.  Maas. 

Philadelphia — Mrs.  George  Burnham,  Jr.,  Mrs.  Charles  Rich- 
ardson, Mrs.  Clinton  Rogers  Woodruff. 

Wilmington  Board  of  Trade — William  P.  Bancroft,  Rockford; 
Merris  Taylor,  "Every  Evening";  John  S.  Rossell. 

Taxpayers'  Association,  Cincinnati — Fred.  Tuke. 

Dayton  Board  of  Trade — E.  M.  Thresher. 

Municipal  Voters'  League,  Chicago — George  C.  Sikes. 

Commercial  Club,  Dayton,  Ohio — Hon.  Dennis  Dwyer,  Hon. 
J.  C.  Meyers,  Hon.  Lewis  B.  Gunckel. 

Business  Men's  Club  of  Cincinnati — Francis  Bacon  James. 

Columbus,  Ohio — Joseph  E.  Blackburn,  Fred.  H.  Heywood. 

Columbus  Board  of  Trade — George  W.  Latimer,  William  F. 
Burdell,  Dr.  Washington  Gladden,  Hon.  D.  F.  Pugh,  Hon.  S.  L. 
Black. 


IN  DKX. 


PAGE 

Abbatoirs 228 

Accounting,  Municipal  .  .  .  151 
Accounting  of  Public  Service 

Industries I55 

Accounting,  Public 104 

Accounting,  Uniform    .    .      43,  220 

Accounts,  City 233 

Accounts,  Control  of  County, 

133,  134 

Accounts.  Financial 54 

Accounts  of  Grantees  of  Fran- 
chises      34,  114,  162 

Accounts  of  Municipal  Indus- 
trial Enterprises 34 

Accounts,  Publicity  of   Gran- 
tees           62 

Accounts,  Special  and  Trust  .  107 
Act,  Municipal  Corporations  .  224 
Administrative  Efficiency  .  .  106 
Administrative  Service     .    .    .    236 

Adoption  of  Report 45 

Alameda,  Cal 185 

Alleghenv 176,  273 

Allen,  Walter  S 34,  162 

Amendments,   Constitutional,    217 
American  Academy  of  Politi- 
cal and  Social  Science  ...     156 
American  Association  for  Mu- 
nicipal Improvements   .    .    .     126 
American     Municipalities, 

League  of     .    .  161,  172,  176,  180 
Annexation  of  Territory  .      60,  229 

Appendix 50 

Appointive  Officers    .    .    .    ■    •    236 

Appropriations 246 

Assessments 246 

Assessments,  Local 231 

Astoria,  Oregon 170 

Austin,  Tex 170 

Baker,  M.  N 23,  157,  274 

Baltimore  .    .    .     169,  171,  176,  182 
Baltimore    Charter     Commis- 
sion      182 

Baltimore  Reform  League,  182,  186 

Banquet  Speeches 250 

Bell,  vSir  James 151 

Bills,  Private 217 


Black  Act 173 

Blandin,  E.  J u,  274 

Black,  Samuel  L 1,274 

Bonaparte,  Charles  J.     ...    5,  183 

Boss  and  the  Ring 264 

Boston 

44,  no,  127,  133,  178,  263,  273 
Boston  Municipal  League  .  .  186 
Boston  Statistical  Department,    124 

Brooklyn 96,  100,  273 

Bruns,  H.  Dickson 5 

Budget,  City 235 

Burnhani,  George,  Jr 

4,  5,  45,  46,  273 
Business  Men  and  Municipal 

Government 268 

Business     Men's    Republican 

League  of  Pennsylvania  .    .    172 
Butler,  John  A.,  6,  27,  35,  45,  87,  273 

California 69,  174 

California,  Cities  of  ....  .  176 
California   Municipitalities, 

League  of   . 172,  180 

Cambridge  Library  Hall  Asso- 
ciation         186 

Capen,  Samuel  B 5 

Carter,  James  C.  .    .1,  5,  n,  12, 

27,  36,  251,  262,  272,  273 
Charities  and  Corrections     .    .    229 

Charity,  Public 117 

Charters,  Framing  of  .  .  •  60,  162 
Charters,  Power  of  City  ...  222 
Chattanooga  .  .176,  183,  270,  273 
Chicago,  .    .  15,  18,  19,  12S,  172, 

175    177,  271,  ^73 
Chicago  Civic  F'ederation  .  TcS6,  274 

Chinese  System 267 

Cincinnati 29.  126,  273 

Cincinnati     Commercial    Tri- 
bune          30 

Cincinnati    Republican   Com- 
mittee           31 

Cities.  Incorporation  of  .  .  226 
Cities,  General  Powers  of  .  221,  228 

Citizens.  Action  by 248 

Citizens.  Powers  of 58 

City  Budget 235 


(275) 


2/6 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

City  Club  of  New  York    .    .    . 

180,  186,  273 

City  Courts 220 

City  Government  and  Political 

Parties 27 

City  Government  and  Public 

Opinion 27 

City's  Power  to  Incur  Indebt- 
edness           12 

Civil  Service  Commissioners  . 

238,  240 
Civil  Service  Examinations     .    236 
Civil  Service  Reform   .    .  8,  55, 
61,  90,  173.  237.  238,  239,  240, 

241,  242,  243,  266,  267 
Civil  Service  Regulations  .  .  236 
Classiiication  in  Ohio    ....     189 

Clerk  of  Councils 244 

Cleveland  ....  148,  169,  213,  273 
Cleveland  Municipal  Associa- 
tion .  184,  186,  212,  214,  215,  273 
Cleveland  Street  Railways,  212,  214 
Clow,  Frederick  R.  ....  125,  127 
Coler,  Bird  S   .    .11,  12,  13,  14, 

74,  96,  178.  274 
Columbus  Board  of  Trade,  .    . 

3,  169,  250,  274 
Columbus,  Ohio  .    .    .  i,  39,  40, 

41,  169,  252,  263 
Comparison,  Importance  of 

Uniformity  for  Purposes  of  136 
Compensation  of  Mayor  .  .  .  236 
Composition  of  Council   .    .    .    243 

Connecticut 180 

Constitutional  Amendments    .    217 
Contracts  for  Labor  and  Ma- 
terial   231 

Control  by  State  Authority  ,    .     158 
Control   over   Municipal    Re- 
ceipts and  Expenditures,  no,  148 
Controller,  City  Election  of    .    247 

Controller,  Duties  of 247 

Controller,  Powers  of    .    .      58,  247 

Convenience,  Public 120 

Corporations  Act,  Municipal  . 

222,  224 
Corporation  Question,  Public 

Service      207 

Corporations,  Relation  of  Pub- 
lic to  City II 

Correction  and  Charities  .    .    .    229 

Corruption 53 

Council  IMeetings 244 

Councils,  Powers  of  .  .  58,  243,  245 
Councils.  Constitution  of  .  .  .  36 
Councillors,  Ineligibility  of     .    244 


PAGE 

Courts,  City 220 

Courts,  Minor 229 

Criticisms      104 

Croker 266 

Crosby,  A.  F,  ......  34,  148 

Czar  Plan 77 

Dakota 134 

Dana  Laws 31 

Data,  Public 118 

Delegates,  List  of    .....    .    273 

Deming,  Horace  E.  .    .3,  6,  12, 

22,  25,  27,  45,  46,  77,  258,  262, 

265,  268,  272,  273 

Denver 176 

Detroit 21 

Detroit   Good    Government 

League  184,  273 

Detroit  Street  Railways   .      21,  177 
Direct  Legislation  .    .     61,  219,  246 

Disability  of  Mayor 234 

Docks 102,  228 

Docks,  New  York loi 

Duluth 176 

East  River  Bridge 97 

Economic  Evils 51,  52 

Education,  Public  ....    118,  120 
Efficienc}',  Administrative   .    .    106 

Elections,  City 217 

Elections,  Separate  City  .    .    .    249 

Elizabeth,  N.  J 15,  98 

English     Local     Government 

Board 131,  159 

English  Municipalities    .  23,  24,  27 
Examination  of  the  Proposed 

Municipal  Program  ...  7,  51 
Execution  of  State  Laws  .  .  .  234 
Expansion,  Municipal  ....    262 

Expenditures 119 

Expenditures    and    Receipts, 

Financial  Control  Over  .  .    . 

34,  no,  148 
Expenditures,     Summarized 

btatement  of 116 

Extraordinary  Receipts    .    .    .    118 

Fassett  Committee 124 

Ferries .  228 

Financial  Accounts  of  Reports,    54 
Financial    Control    Over   Re- 
ceipts and  Expenditures  .    . 

34,  no,  148 

Financial  Reports 105 

Financial  Reports  and  Muni- 
cipalities           33,  34,  ]24 


INDEX. 


277 


Fines 229 

Florence        265 

Florida 180 

Foote,  Allen  Ripley,  18,  42,  215,  274 
Foulke,  William  Dudley,  13,  264,273 

Franchises    217,  230 

Franchises,  Accounts  of  Grant- 
ees of  .    .    34,  .114,  162 

Franchise  Grants,  Limitation 
of 61 

Garfield,  Harry  A.  .    .    .     5,11,207 
General  Views  of  the  Munici- 
pal Plan .    .      87 

Gerrymander 84 

Giles,  William  A 4.  6,  15 

Good  Father  Plan 77 

Goodnow,  Prof.  F.  J 

3,  23,  25,  34,  63,  77,  273 

Grand  Rapids 176 

Grantees,  Accounts  of     .    .    34,  162 
Grantees,  Accounts,  Publicity 

of 61 

Grantees  of   Municipal  Fran- 
chises   -     1 14 

Greater  Powers 228 

Greenville,  Ohio 170 

Guthrie,  George  W 5.273 

Hale,  Edward  Everett  ....     k86 

Harbors 228 

Harrison,  Carter  H.  .  .  .  172,  I77 
Hartwell,  E.  W.  .    .    .     33,  124,  274 

Hartwell,  Frank  N 5 

Heads  of  Departments  at  Coun- 
cil Meetings 235 

Herman,  A.  L, 126 

Home  Rule 38 

Howe,  Frederick  C.    .    .   11,  21,  273 

Illegal  Payments 238 

Illinois,  Civil  Service  Act  of  .    175 
Illinois     Municipal     Corpora- 
tions    68,  180 

Immigration 32 

Importance  of  Uniformity  for 
Purpose  of  Comparison     .    .     136 

Imprisonment 229 

Inadequacy  of  Power  ....  59 
Incorporation  of  Cities  ....  226 
Ineligibility  of  Councillors  .  .  244 
Indebtedness  .  .  .  .  218,  231,  253 
Indebtedness,  City  .  .  .  143.  208 
Indebtedness,  City's  Power  to 

Incur 12,  13 

Indebtedness,  Public     ....     120 


PAGE 

Indebtedness  under  Proposed 
Municipal  Program    ....      96 

Indefiniteness  of  Organization      53 
Indefinite  Tenure  of  Office  .    .      54 
Indiana  .....        .    .  14,  20,  146 

Indiana  Municipalities .        .    .     180 
Indiana    Township    Commis- 
sion         .....     176 

Indianapolis 169 

Individualism 53,  59 

Industrial     Enterprises,     Ac- 
counts of  Municipal  .    .    .  34,  112 
Industries,  Accounting  of  Pub- 
lic Service     .    .    .    .  ■     ...     I55 
Investigation,  Council's  Powers 

of 245 

Iowa 137 

Irresponsibilities 52 

Jacksonville 176 

James,  Edmund  J 5 

James,  F.  B 4,  6,  28,  273 

Jersey  City 176 

Johnson,  E.  M 20 

Jones,  Mayor  S.  M.  .  .  .  172,  I77 
Justice  of  the  Peace 229 

Kansas  City,  Missouri  ....  170 
Kansas  Municipalities  ....  180 
Kibler,  Edward   .    .   10,  29,  1S8,  273 

Labor,  Contracts  for 231 

Lansing,  Michigan     .    .    ...     170 
League  of  American  Munici- 
palities ....  161,  172,  176,  180 
Legislation,  Direct    .    .    .    219,  246 

Libraries 229 

Library    Hall   Association    of 

Cambridge 186 

Liverpool loi 

Local    Government    Board, 

English 131,  159 

Los  Angeles 176 

Louisville 169 

Low,  Seth 172 

Low,  William  G 

5,  11,22,  35,45,46,  273 

Maltbie,  Milo  R.     .    .    .    22,  24,  274 

Mankato 176 

Markets 228 

Massachusetts 132,  134 

Materials,  Contracts  for  .  .  .  231 
Mathews,  Nathan,  Jr.  .  .  125,127 
Mavor  at  Council  Meetings     .    235 


2/8 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Mayor,  Power  of  ....  57,  234 
Meetings  of  Couucils  ....  244 
McClintock,  Oliver  .  .  6,  47,  273 
Mcintosh  Hector  ...        6 

McKee,  F.  W 32,  273 

Michigan 177 

Michigan  Municipalities  .    .    .     180 

Miller,  Joseph  A 5 

Miller,  O-  A 250,  274 

Milwaukee  .  91,  92,  95,  137,  176,  273 
Milwaukee  Electric  Lighting 

and  Railway  Co 93 

Milwaukee  Municipal  League, 

87,  94,  184,  186,  273 

Minneapolis 169,  176,  184 

Minnesota 69,  109 

Minnesota  Cities 176 

Minority  Representation  .    .    . 

60,  219,  246 

Minor  Courts 229 

Missouri 68 

Moral  Evils 51,  53 

Mohawk   Arbitration   Confer- 
ence     186 

Municipal  Corporation  Act  .  .  224 
Municipal  Expansion  ....  262 
Municipal     Improvements, 

American  Association  of      .126 
Municipal    Industrial    Enter- 
prises   112 

Municipal    Industrial    Enter- 
prises, Accounts  of     ...    .      34 
Municipal  Irresponsibilities    .      56 
Municipal  League  of  Philadel- 
phia     182 

Municipal  Ownership  ....  213 
Municipal  Program  .  3,  6  170,  258 
Municipal  Program,  Adoption 

of _  •    .      45 

Municipal  Program,  Examina- 
tion of 7.  51 

Municipal   Program,    General 

View  of 87 

Museums 229 

National  Civil  Service  Reform 

League 266 

New  Orleans 22 

New  York  .  39.96,  97,  107,  109, 
no,    124,    134,    169,  173,  253, 

255.  256,  266 

New  York  Cities 176 

New  York  Docks        .....     10 1 

New  York,  Greater 

96.  97,  174,  1/6,  179.  263,  274 
New  York.  Reform  in    ...    .     180 


PAGE 

New  York  State 175 

Noble,  Henrj'  C 40 

Nomenclatures,  Common  .    143,  249 

Nominations 75 

Nominations,  City 217 

Nominations  in  Ohio     ....  189 

Number  of  Offices 74 

Oakland,  California 185 

Officers  of '- ouncil 244 

Ochs,  George  W 

4,  5,  23,  183,  270,  274 
Ohio  ....  31,  38  68,  256,  267 
Ohio,  Classification  cf  Cities  in  189 

Ohio  Constitution 189 

Ohio  Municipal  Code    .    .    .    .  3,  29 
Ohio  Municipal  Code  Commis- 
sion, Work  of 

10.  II,  169,  176,  188,  215 

Ohio  Municipalities 180 

Ohio  State  Board  of  Commerce 

34,  169,  270 

Opinion,  Public 77 

Opinion,  Public,  and  City  Gov- 
ernment    27,  77 

Ordinance,  Powers  of   ...    .    228 
Organization,  Municipal  .    .    .    221 

Paris 98 

Parties,  Political ,  a  n  d    City 

Government 63,  76 

Partisanship     ....  52,  55 

Payments,  Illegal 238 

Payment  of  Public  Employees    238 

Penalties 229 

Pennsylvania,  Civil  Service  in    175 

Petition         ■    223,  249 

Philadelphia 

14,  III,  261,  262,  263,  273 
Philadelphia  Conference  .  .  .  173 
Philadelphia  Gas  Works  ...  108 
Philadelphia     Municipal 

League  ....       182,  1S6,  273 
Philadelphia  "  Press  "  .    ...     172 

Pingree,  Governor I77 

Pittsburg       176 

Places,  Public 217 

Political  Assessments  .    .      55 

Political  Evils 51 

Political    Parties   and    City 

Government 27,  63 

Power    of     Cities    to     Frame 

Charters 222 

Powers  of  Council      .    .    .    243,  244 
Powers,  General,  of  Cities  221,  228 


INDEX. 


279 


Prices    of     Municipal    Enter- 
prises            43 

Private  Bills 217 

Prohibition  Party 65 

Proportional  Representation  . 

60,  219,  246 
Providence,  R.  I.     ......     176 

Public  Accounting     .    .    .      104,  33 
Public  Convenience   .    .    .    112,  118 

Public  Industries 120 

Public    Opinion    and     City 

Government 77,  27 

Public  Places 217 

Public  Safety   ......    117,119 

Public     Service     Corporation 

Question 207 

Public  Service  Industries     .    .     155 

Publicity 87 

Publicity  of  Grantees'  Accoiuits      62 
Pugh,  David  F  .    .29,  188,  250,  273 

Qualifications  of  Councilmen  .    244 
Quincy,  Josiali     .    .    .    133,178,263 

Raleigh,  N.  C 176,  185 

Ramapo  Water  Deal 179 

Rapid  Transit  in  New  York    . 

100,  10 1 
Receipts    and     Expenditures, 

Summarized  Statement  of    .     116 
Receipts   and   Expenditures, 
Financial  Control  Over    .    . 

34,  no,  148 
Receipts,  Extraordinary  .    .        118 
Records  of  Civil  Ser\dce  Com- 
missioners      239 

Reform  Associations 104 

Registration     . 217 

Relation  of  the  Public  Corpor- 
ations to  the  City    II 

Removal  of  Mayor 235 

Removal,  Power  of 243 

Report,  Adoption  of 45 

Reports,  Financial  and  Muni- 
cipalities    .    .  33,  34,  54,  105,  124 
Representation,  Minority  and 

Proportional 219,  246 

Resolutions  of  A.  R.  Foote  .    .      42 

Richmond,  Va 183 

Richardson,  Charles 

I,  5,  34,  35,  36,  273 

Ring,  Boss  and  the 264 

Roosevelt  Act I73 

Roster  of  Administrative  Ser- 
vice      238 


PAGE 

Rossell,  J.  S.    .    .   4,  6,  7,  27,  44,  273 
Rowe,  L.S.,  33,  77,  104,  152,  156,  273 

San  Antonio •    .    176 

San  Francisco  ....   174,  175,  176 
San  P'rancisco  Merchants'  As- 
sociation     186 

Sanitation,  Moral 87 

Santa  Barbara  Civic  Club     .    .     185 

Santa  Clara 185 

Secrecy  in  Voting 217 

Separation  of   Municipal  and 

National  Politics 63 

Sewers ■     .    .    228 

Shaw,  Dr.  Albert 130 

Sikes,  George  C 

18,  24,  32,  43  274 

Somerville,  Mass 176 

Sovereignty,  State 38 

Sparling,  Samuel  E.  .     34,  136,  273 
Special  and  Trust  Accounts     .     107 

Special  Legislation 55 

Spokane 176 

State  Authority,  General  Con- 
tract by 158 

State  Interference  ...     52,  55,  67 

State  Supervision 57,  234 

Statistics,  Department  of  Bos- 
ton   124 

Statistics  of  Cities 126 

St.  Louis  .    .  ' 68,  185 

St.  Paul 176 

Street  Powers 228 

Street  Railway  Companies  of 

Milwaukee 92,  93 

Street  Railways 19,  21 

Street  Railways  of  Cleveland  . 

20,  21,  214 

Streets 217 

Summarized  Statement  of  Re- 
ceipts and  Expenditures  .    .    116 

Tammany  Hall 255,  256 

Tax 231,  246 

Taxation 116 

Taxpayers  Association  of  Cin- 
cinnati    ^,  274 

Tax  Rate 218,  231 

Taylor,  Merris 5 

Territorv,  Annexation  of  .    .    .    227 

Thanks,' Vote  of 34 

Thresher,  Hon.  E.  M.  .  10,  34, 

268,  273 

Thurman,  Allen  W 39 

Tibbits,  Dudley  ....  5 

Toledo, 171.  177,  184 


280 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Tooke,  Charles  W.     ...      34,  155 

Toronto 95 

Township  Trustee 13 

Treasurer,  Report  of 4 

Trenton  Movement    ....     iSi 

Trust  Funds,  Public 120 

Tuke,  Frederic     ...    6,  7,  22,  273 

Uniform  Method  of  Account- 
ing    220 

Uniformity,  Importance  of  .    .  136 

Uniformity  of  Accounts  ...  109 
Uniformity,  Requirement  of,  in 

Financial  Reports 124 

Veto,  Power  of  Mayor      ...  235 

Vote,  Right  to     .......  217 

Voting 217 

Voting,  Secrecy  in 217 


PAGE 

Waring,  Col 256 

Washington 69 

Waterworks 228 

Wharves 228 

Wilcox,  Delos  F.  .    .    .7,  24,  25,  51 

Wilmington 27,  176 

Wilmington  Charter 27 

Wilmington,  N.  C 185 

Wisconsin  .    .  91,  136,  137.  MO 

142,  176,  184 
Wisconsin   League   of    Muni- 
cipalities   ...    34,  136,  176,  180 
Woodruff,  Clinton  Rogers   .    . 

4,  5,  169   262,  264,  265,  273 
Work  of  the  Ohio  Municipal 

Code  Commission 188 

Wright,  Carrol  D 126 

W^yoming 144,  145,  146 

Year's  Advance 169 


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